


Fairy Tales and Hokum

by pfyre



Category: The Lord of the Rings RPF, The Mummy (1999)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Angst, Drama, First Time, Horror, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Movie Fusion, Romance, inspired by Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 14:23:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16064972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pfyre/pseuds/pfyre
Summary: No harm ever came from reading a book....





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Beta:** As always, eternal thanks and appreciation to my PiaP - Ozmandius - my sounding board, my cheerleading section, my inspiration and my ever efficient, proficient and comprehensive betareader extraordinaire. I know I ask too much of her - real life can be too draining at times - but she always manages to help me with my fic. She makes my ramblings much more readable and enjoyable. Any remaining mistakes are purely my own.
> 
>  **Notes:** We've enjoyed watching 'The Mummy' many times. And so one time we're watching and suddenly realize that we wanted to *see* Viggo and Orli in the lead roles. Another one of those 'D'oh!' moments when it just seemed so perfect. *grin* We had a great time working the details out, adjusting the story to fit our favourite couple and adding our own bits of fun and detail.

No Harm Ever Came From Reading A Book  
*completed: August 16, 2004 (6:38pm)

 

THEBES - 2,134 B.C

Anck-su-namun was a gorgeous, olive-skinned goddess born among mortals. Body paint, not cloth covered her as she strode with purpose and confidence into the inner chambers of Imhotep's home. She was the Pharaoh's mistress and no other man was allowed to touch her. However, one did. She smiled and welcomed the touch of the High Priest of Osiris. For their love, they risked death....

The huge chamber doors were pushed open. The Pharaoh had returned after several days away from the city. He had not been expected back so soon, but he was early. He glared at the gold skinned priets who scurried out of his path and away from his ire.

"What are you doing here?" the Pharaoh demanded. His attention was drawn to movement behind the curtain that led to the inner chambers. He threw the curtains open to find Anck-su-namun standing alone beside a huge cat statue. The look she gave him was heated. He stepped forward to greet her and noticed the smeared body paint on her upper arm. "WHO HAS TOUCHED YOU?!"

His sword was ripped from its scabbard and he whirled to face his attacker. "Imhotep? .... My priest...." But the first attack came from behind. Anck-su-namun plunged her dagger into his back. His screams of pain were quickly silenced when Imhotep raised the sword....

From outside there were shouts. Imhotep's priests grabbed him and pulled him toward the balcony. He resisted; he would not leave his love to face the wrath of the Pharaoh's bodyguards alone.

"You must go." She pushed him to follow his men. "Save yourself. Only you can resurrect me."

His priests hurried him onto the dark balcony just as the Medjai, the Pharaoh's personal bodyguard, broke in. Anck-su-namum faced them without fear. She looked at the Pharaoh crumpled at her feet. "My body is no longer his temple!" She plunged the dagger into her heart....

For murdering the Pharaoh, Anck-su-namun's body was to be cursed. As the High Priest of Osiris, Imhotep's duty was to carry out the sentence. Instead he stole her body and with his men raced across the desert to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead. Her lifeless body was laid on the altar with her organs resting in five jewel encrusted sacred canopic jars. Imhotep opened the ebony Book of the Dead and recited the powerful words that would bring his lover back to life....

....The Medjai leader smashed the jar containing Anck-su-namum's heart and the spell was broken. Her soul fled her body with a hair-raising screech as Imhotep and his men were captured.... For their crimes, the priests were condemned to be mummified alive. Their horrific screams surrounded Imhotep as he was subjected to the Hom-Dai....

...His tongue was cut out and then he was wrapped in linen bandages. Completely wrapped, except for his eyes, Imhotep was placed in a stone sarcophagus. A basket full of hungry scarabs was dumped in as it was sealed. The dung beetles would eat him and be cursed along with him to live forever sealed in the grave at the base of Anubis' statue.

Imhotep, once the High Priest of Osiris, Keeper of the Dead, would remain undead for eternity. He could never be released for if he was, he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater, with the strength of ages, power over the sands and the glory of invincibility....

*

"AAAHHCHOO!!" His sneeze disturbed the quiet of the research library that was deep in the bowels of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. Orlando dug out a fairly clean handkerchief and wiped his nose as he looked around guiltily. He really should return to his duties of cataloging the latest additions.

The only problem was that the photograph he had found of the hieroglyphs that told of the story of Pharaoh Seti the First, of his mistress Anck-su-namum and his Chief Priest, Imhotep, High Priest of Osiris. It was much more interesting than spending hours among the dusty old volumes that already filled the huge two story high bookcases that filled the room.

Surrounded since childhood with relics and treasures from Egypt's past, his bedtimes filled with stories of grand adventures, Orlando Bloom's imagination was vivid enough to fill in any details that the sparse hieroglyphs skipped. He could easily envision a gorgeous woman with olive skin and body paint who had captured the hearts of two powerful men. Avid reading of scholarly works and adventure novels provided him with lurid details of the execution of the Hum-Dai. A particularly nasty curse he could only recall one clear mention of when the Bembridge Scholars stated categorically that such a curse had never been inflicted simply because the consequences were too horrible to consider.

He slipped the grainy photograph into his personal notebook. He would file it in the proper folder once he was certain he had gleaned every detail possible from it. He wiped his nose one more time, shoved his handkerchief into his pocket and picked up the top three volumes from the nearest stack.

*

Hours later Orlando stood at the top of a ladder resting against a huge bookcase. He pulled a book out from the stack under his arm and blew the dust off. Carefully he inserted the volume where it belonged with the other titles beginning with 'S'. He adjusted his glasses and pulled the next volume out and read the title.

"Tuthmosis?" He frowned. "Now how did you get up here?" He looked to the bookcase behind him and saw the titles all beginning with 'T'. Deciding against a long climb down followed with another climb up, he set the remaining books he had under his arm on the shelf in front of him. Then carefully he reached across with the 'Tuthmosis' in his hand. His reach was a bit short. He held tight to the top of the ladder and leaned farther toward the other shelves.

"AHHH!!" The ladder pulled away from the support of the shelf. "Uhhh...." He dropped the Tuthmosis book and gripped the ladder tightly. Somehow the ladder balanced and he stood near the top like a stilt walker. The ladder did not move or even seem to sway for a very long moment.

Orlando slowly let out the breath he had been holding. If he could only reach out and grab the shelf nearest him maybe he could get out of this reasonably undamaged. He glanced down and swallowed hard. It really was a long way to fall. He shifted his balance minutely and reached out his left hand. His fingertips brushed the dusty shelf.

"AAAHHCCHHOOO!!!" The sneeze came quite unexpectedly and with enough force to propel the ladder and him backward into the other tall bookshelf. His back collided with the shelf as another sneezed added to the momentum.

The entire bookshelf unit tipped away from him as he rode the ladder downward. As the unit collided with the next, a chain reaction ensued. Each shelf tipped into the next and the domino effect traveled swiftly around the room. Orlando barely managed to crawl out of harm's way when the last of the shelves toppled onto the ladder he had been standing on.

"OH MY GA-AHHCCHHOOO!!" A fit of sneezes overcame him. By the time he finished blowing his nose and wiping his eyes, Orlando looked up to find a very unhappy Curator eyeing him.

"Look at this!" Sean glared at him. "Sons of the Messiah! Give me frogs, flies, locusts, Anything but this! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!"

"I'm sorry. It was an accident," Orlando quickly started stacking books.

"When Ramesses destroyed Syria, that was an accident." Sean shook a finger at him. "You are a catastrophe! Why do I put up with you?"

"You put up with me because I can read and write ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic," he explained, "and I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalogue this library."

"I put up with you because your mother and father were our finest patrons, Allah rest their souls." Sean let out a long irritated sigh. "I don't care how! I don't care how long it takes! Now straighten up this mess!" The curator stormed out.

Orlando stood still for a long time, wheezing slightly. He wiped his nose again. He was not a catastrophe. Was it his fault that the new display in the main gallery collapsed when he set a small stack of books on it? Really, it was quite sloppy of the workmen to not securely fasten the legs so when the smallest additional weight was added they collapsed. He pulled off his glasses and wiped at the dust on them with a corner of his jacket. Was it his fault that the crate of books he had been wheeling from storage decided to take a tumble from the cart it was on and crack like an egg on the staircase scattering books and papers everywhere? He had after all apologized profusely for interrupting the benefactors meeting. And as for the fire, it had been very tiny and contained quite quickly--

CRASH! His thoughts were interrupted when by something fell somewhere behind him. He spun around.

"Hello?"

It absolutely silent even as he tried to quiet his breathing.... Another noise which sounded more like the shuffling of feet came from a nearby gallery. "Abdul?" He grabbed one of the torches. "Mohammed?" He peeked around the doorway. "...Bob?"

The statues of Anubis and Horus stared down at him. The flickering lights of the torches cast an eerie glow upon them and the other treasures from the Middle Kingdom. The shuffling noise came again, only much closer. Orlando swallowed hard. He was beginning to get a bit worried.

He walked slowly past a closed sarcophagus, and peered around the corner. The torch light glittered off the artifacts displayed on shelves behind the protection of glass doors. Orlando reached a sarcophagus that was open and paused. He leaned just a bit to see inside--

A hideous rotted mummy sat up and screeched!

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" He backed into a display case, nearly toppling it over and almost dropped the torch.

Laughter echoed from within the sarcophagus as Johnny sat up.

"You..!!" Orlando yelled. "You..!!"

"Drunkard? Fool? Rat-bastard?" Johnny supplied. "At least call me something original." He lifted one of the half rotted legs up to wave it at his brother.

"Have you no respect for the dead?" Orlando shook his head as Johnny began to drunkenly climb out. "It's 1926." Orlando slapped his brother upside the head. "Grow up!"

"Right now I only wish to join the dead." Johnny grinned wider and accepted his little brother's help to get down from the display.

"Well, I wish you'd do it sooner rather than later, before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours." Orlando rearranged the mummy approximating its original position. Then he sat down. "Oh, Johnny, I'm simply not in the mood."

"What's happened?" For the moment at least, the elder brother was serious as he sat down.

"The Bembridge Scholars have rejected my application once again!" Orlando sighed. "They say I don't have enough field work!" He clenched his fists and then relaxed them. "And I'm afraid I've made a bit of a mess in the library."

"My dear, sweet, baby brother!" Johnny looked directly in the dark eyes. "You'll always have me." The elder brother paused to belch before continuing. "Besides I'll have you know that at this moment my career is on a high note."

"High note? Ha! You've been scrounging around Egypt for how long now? And what have you to show for it? Nothing."

"Oh yes I do!" Johnny excitedly began searching his pockets. "I have something right here!"

"Oh no, not another worthless trinket, Johnny." Orlando shook his head in exasperation. "If I bring one more piece of junk to the Curator and try and sell for you...."

Johnny pulled out a small, ancient box from an inside pocket. It was covered with inscriptions.

"Where did you get this?" Orlando was instantly curious and grabbed it from him.

"On a dig down in Thebes." He grinned. Johnny knew his brother's weakness for ancient mysteries.

Orlando rolled the box around in his hands, mumbling to himself as he translated the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it.

"My whole life I've never found anything," Johnny licked his lips in anticipation. "Orli, tell me I've found something."

Orlando's long nimble fingers played with the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way. It reminded the elder brother of a Chinese puzzle box. There was a quiet click and the box opened to reveal a folded piece of golden papyrus. The young man carefully pulled it from the box.

"Johnny?" With a delicate touch, Orlando unfolded the ancient document to reveal a detailed map.

"Yes?" The elder Bloom leaned close trying to see what was on the papyrus.

"I think you found something."

*

Sean Bean stared through a jeweler's loop at the puzzle box. Orlando hovered behind, almost bouncing in his excitement.

"See the cartouche there." A long finger pointed to one particular area. "It's the royal seal of Seti the First. I'm sure of it!"

"Perhaps...." Sean sounded less than convinced.

"Two questions." Johnny leaned across the curator's desk. "Who the hell is Seti the First? And was he rich?"

"He was the last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom," Orlando explained, "said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all."

"All right, good, that's good." Johnny smiled. "I like this fellow, like him very much."

Sean picked up the map and studied it.

"I've already dated it." Orlando's enthusiasm was obvious. "This map is almost three thousand years old. And the hieratics over here...." He pointed to one corner. "It's Hamunaptra."

Sean paused. For a moment he looked very worried, but he covered quickly. "My dear boy, don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "We are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is a myth."

Johnny's eyes were round with surprise. "Are we talking about *THE* Hamunaptra?"

"Yes. The City of The Dead," Orlando confirmed as he pointed to more details on the map for the curator to examine, "where the early Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt."

"Right, right." Johnny nodded. "...in a big underground treasure chamber. Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand on Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes."

"All we know is that the city mysteriously vanished around 2,134 B.C." Orlando added.

"As the Americans would say; it's all fairy tales and hokum." The curator held the map closer to a candle lamp as he studied it. "Oh!" The corner of the map caught fire and Sean threw it to the floor.

Johnny and Orlando quickly dropped to their knees batting out the fire. The elder sibling picked up the remains of the map and the left third of the map was gone. "You burned it! You burned off the part with the lost city!"

"It's for the best, I'm sure." Sean quickly dismissed it as if there was nothing to be concerned about. "Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra. No one has ever found it and most have never returned."

"You killed my map." Johnny looked devastated.

"I'm sure it was a fake anyway." The curator turned to Orlando. "I'm surprised at you, young Mr. Bloom, to be so fooled." Sean reached for the puzzle box, but Orlando snatched it off the desk and gave the older man a suspicious look.

*

"Right this way." Sala Baker, the Warden of the Cairo prison escorted the Bloom siblings across the gallows courtyard.

"You told me you found it on a dig down in Thebes!" Orlando whispered.

"I was mistaken," Johnny whispered back.

"You lied to me!"

"I lie to everybody," Johnny admitted. "What makes you so special?"

"I'm your brother." Orlando glared at him.

"That just makes you more gullible."

"You stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah?!" Orlando shook his head in disgust.

"Here we are." The warden stopped next to a holding pen. His clothing only marginally cleaner than the rags the prisoners wore behind the bars, Sala Baker did nothing to make a good impression of himself on his visitors.

"And what is he in prison for?" Orlando asked.

"I did not know." The warden shrugged. "So when I heard you were coming, I asked him that myself."

"And what did he say?"

"He said...." Sala raised an eyebrow. "...he was just looking for a good time."

The interior cell door burst open. A man was dragged to the closest bars and shoved up to them. Orlando's first glimpse of the American was less than impressive. Mortensen was in chains with his face half hidden by long hair and a scraggly beard. He also sported an assortment of new and old bruises.

"But he's just a filthy criminal." Orlando took a half step back.

"Way to go, Orli." Johnny cringed.

Mortensen gave Orlando the once over, then looked at Johnny. "Do I know you?"

"No," Johnny hedged, "not really. We're missionaries here and uh...."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hmmm... You look familiar." Viggo looked at the younger man. "So who's the kid?"

"Kid?!" Orlando hated being referred to as a child. "Johnny...."

"He's my brother, actually."

"Yeah? Well," Viggo shrugged. "...I'm sure he's not a total loss."

"I'll be back in a moment." The warden headed for a nearby door.

"I tremble with anticipation." The sarcasm practically dripped from Viggo's comment. One of the guards clubbed the man across the head. Viggo's forehead bounced off the metal bars. Orlando winced in sympathy even as the American showed no pain and only glared at his guards.

"We uh,...found," Orlando stammered, "...your puzzle box. And we've come to ask you about it."

"No."

"No?" Orlando repeated, confused.

"No." Viggo looked at the younger man coolly. "You came to ask me about Hamunaptra."

Orlando and Johnny quickly looked around, hoping the guards had not heard him. "How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" They stepped closer to the bars.

"Because that's where I found it," Viggo stated calmly. "I was there."

Orlando's eyes widened, but Johnny looked suspicious. "How do we know that's not a load of pig swallow?"

"Hey," Viggo suddenly looked closer at Johnny, a glint of recognition in his eyes. "I do know you."

"Um...." Johnny looked uncomfortable. "Well, you see--"

Johnny never saw it coming. Viggo fist flew through the bars and connected squarely on the elder brother's jaw. Johnny dropped like a sack of potatoes, out cold. Another guard clubbed Viggo and his head bounced off the bars. Once again he showed no pain, merely glared at his captors.

"You were actually at Hamunaptra?" Orlando barely glanced down at his brother as he stepped over Johnny to get closer to the bars.

"I just decked your brother," Viggo pointed out.

"Yes, well." Orlando shrugged. "I know my brother."

The American almost smiled. "Yeah, I was there."

"You swear?"

"Every damn day," Viggo quipped.

"No." Orlando shook his head. "I mean--"

"I know what you mean," Viggo cut him off. "I was there, all right. Seti's place. The City of The Dead."

"What did you find? What did you see?"

"I found sand. I saw death."

**

Three years earlier....

"I knew this was gonna be a lousy day." Viggo Mortensen watched as his fellow Legionnaires spread out using the ruins as cover. There were barely two hundred of them to face ten times the Tuareg horsemen galloping across the desert sands.

"Personally, I would like to surrender." Andy hurried over to where Viggo waited. "Why can we not just surrender?" The small man looked nervously around probably as he scanned for routes of escape.

"Shut-up and gimme your bandolier," Viggo ordered.

"Then let's run away." Andy handed his cartridge belt to the American. "Right now, while we can still make it."

"Now gimme your revolver, you'll never use it anyway." He crisscrossed the second bandolier with his own.

"Then let's play dead, huh?" The little man handed over his weapon. "Nobody ever does that anymore...."

Viggo shook his head and stuck the pistol into his belt.

"What about--" Andy and Viggo turned at the sound of a horse galloping behind them. The garrison Captain was riding out of the ruins away from the oncoming warriors. The two men looked at each other. "Congratulations, you just got a promotion, Mortensen."

"Riiight." Viggo rolled his eyes. "Steady!" he called to the men who shifted nervously as they waited for the onslaught.

The sound of two thousand galloping horses grew to nearly deafening levels.

"Steady! Don't fire until they are within range." Several Legionnaires lost their nerve and ran farther into the ruins. "Oh shit! Steady!" He turned to Andy whose rifle shook as he tried to aim for his first shot. "You're with me, right?"

"Your courage is my courage," Andy intoned. But barely two minutes later, when the Tuaregs started their horrifying battle screams the little man was running back to the ruins.

"STEADY!" Viggo yelled to the men remaining. "What the hell am I sayin'?" he whispered to himself.

"STEADY!!" He looked around at his colleagues. "What the hell am I doin'?"

"FIRE!" The first line of Legionnaires fired and quickly reloaded as dozens of Tuaregs were knocked off their mounts. "FIRE!" The second line of Legionnaires fired and hurried to reload. Even as more Tuaregs fell to the sand, their comrades fired and killed nearly a third of the Legionnaires in one round of bullets.

"FIRE!" The remaining Legionnaires fire and then the Tuareg force plowed through the ruins. Chaos reigned as pistols were fired and rifles used like clubs. Men yelled and screamed with battle lust, fear and pain.

Viggo threw his rifle down and cross-drew both pistols. He fired fast and accurately taking down as many Tuaregs as possible. CLICK. CLICK. "Son-of-a-bitch!" Out of bullets with no time to reload, Viggo turned and sprinted towards the ruins. He spotted Andy making his way toward an open door and shifted his direction.

"Don't you close that door!" Viggo yelled as he heard horses behind him. But Andy continued his struggle to close it. "DON'T YOU CLOSE THAT DOOR!" It slid shut as Viggo reached it. He body slammed against it, but the stone door did not budge. "I'm gonna get you for this!"

Viggo dodged to the side and ran between columns as he looked for a place to slip into, to escape, to hide. Four riders kept on him, coming from different directions trying to corner him. Finally, he was trapped, his back to a mostly buried statue of Anubis. There was no where for him to go. The Tuareg riders aimed their rifles at him.

The American closed his eyes and expected at any second to feel the bullets before he heard them.

Instead, the horses screamed in terror and the men yelled. He opened his eyes and saw the warriors were unable to control their mounts. Two of the men were thrown from their horses and raced off after them as the other two found themselves hanging on for dear life as their mounts raced madly away.

Viggo was stunned. He expected to be dead. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He turned and found the weathered face of the Anubis statue staring at him. Abruptly the sand at his feet shifted. He backed away, afraid but fascinated as a huge face seemed to emerge from the depths below. The face shifted and the mouth opened as a horrific groaning screech filled the air.

Viggo raced away from the ruins into the desert. With one last look over his shoulder, he glanced around to regain his bearings and headed at more reasonable pace for what he hoped was the nearest settlement. Suddenly, he sensed he was being watched. Unlike in the ruins, he did not sense evil, merely awareness. He looked to a far ridge and saw five men all in black silhouetted against the sky....

**

Viggo sighed when he saw that the warden had returned. The dirty, greasy man spoke with the guards in the holding pen with the American.

"Could you tell me how to get there?" Orlando leaned closer. "The exact location?"

"Want to know?" He motioned the younger man closer.

"Yes." Orlando leaned in.

"Really want to know?" Viggo teased.

"Yes." His face was right up to the bars.

Viggo leaned close and kissed the young man hard. "Then get me the hell outta here!" Orlando was too stunned to react. The American was yanked back by the guards, who clubbed him a few times before they dragged him out of the holding area.

"Where are they taking him?" Orlando demanded. He touched his mouth as if uncertain how he should feel about the stolen kiss.

"To be hanged." Sala grinned, his darkly stained teeth did nothing to improve his smile. "Apparently, he had a *very* good time."

*

Hundreds of filthy prisoners milled about as they stared down at the gallows and the hangman's noose draped over the American's head. It was cinched tight around his neck. Orlando followed Sala Baker onto a balcony with a clear view of the proceedings.

Viggo looked directly at the young man as he sat next to the warden. "I will give you one hundred pounds to spare his life."

"I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hang," Sala retorted.

"Two hundred pounds."

"Proceed!" the warden yelled down to the executioners.

"Three hundred pounds!"

The prisoners had gone silent as they watched the American and listened to the exchange between the warden and the young Brit.

"Any last requests, pig?" the hangman asked.

"Yeah, I'd like ya to let me go."

The executioner repeated the request in Arabic to the warden. Sala shook his head in disgust. The hangman smacked Viggo on the back of the head before he grabbed the trapdoor lever.

"Five hundred pounds!" Orlando was getting desperate.

"And what else?" Sala placed his dirty, greasy hand on the young man's leg.

Orlando cringed and shoved the hand off.

The warden gave the signal to his men below as he shook his head. The lever was yanked and the trapdoor fell away.

"NOOO!" Orlando yelled.

Viggo dropped through the hole as the rope played out. When it snapped tight, Viggo's body jerked at the end of the rope. He kicked his feet, obviously still alive.

"His neck did not break! Good!" Sala liked that. It meant more entertainment. "Now we watch him strangle to death."

The prisoners yelled and screamed as they rattled the bars around the courtyard and the guards looked around nervously. Viggo continued to struggle at the end of the rope, gagging.

"He knows the location to Hamunaptra." Orlando leaned close and whispered into the warden's ear.

"You lie." Sala turned to stare at the young man.

"I would never!" Orlando was offended that the weaselly, greasy man would question his truthfulness.

Viggo continued to gasp and gag for air as his face turned several shades of red.

"Are you saying this filthy godless son of a pig...." He nodded toward the American. Viggo's eyes began to glaze over. "...knows where to find The City of The Dead? Truly?"

"Yes, and if you cut him down, we will give you ten percent." Orlando nodded.

"Fifty percent," Sala shot back.

"Twenty." Orlando was not about give so much away.

"Forty." Sala liked this young man. He was beautiful and smart. He could just imagine....

"Thirty percent...."

"Twenty-five!" Sala retorted as he smiled at the beautiful boy.

"Done!" Orlando grinned as a look of horror and disgust fell over the warden.

"ARGH!" He groaned and closed his eyes even as he gave the signal to cut the American down. Stupid. Stupid. He had let beauty blind him to profit.

*

Orlando side stepped a porter carrying a steamer trunk. "Do you really think he'll show up?" He was dressed for the desert in khaki colored trousers, shirt, jacket, dark boots and pith helmet; all crisp, clean and new.

"Undoubtedly, I know the breed." Johnny looked unconcerned as they threaded their way along the docks. "He may be a cowboy, but his word is his word."

"Personally, I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel." Orlando shifted his travel bags from one side to the other. "I don't like him one bit."

"Anyone I know?"

"Oh...." For a moment, Orlando was speechless. Mortensen was freshly bathed, shaved and wearing new clothes and his hair was newly cut. "...um... hello." The younger man could hardly believe this was the same scruffy, filthy man that had nearly been executed. The American cleaned up very nicely indeed.

"Smashing day for the start of an adventure," Johnny grabbed Viggo's arm and shook his hand enthusiastically, "eh, Mortensen?"

"Yeah...." Viggo quickly checked his pockets. "...sure, smashing." He found his wallet and doubled checked the contents before relaxing.

"Oh, hey," Johnny shook his head. "I'd never steal from a partner, Partner." He nudged Viggo's shoulder.

"Right." Viggo arched an eyebrow. "Oh, I hope there're no hard feelings about the... uh...." He mimed a punch.

"Oh, no, not at all," Johnny assured him, even as he rubbed his jaw. "It happens all the time."

"Mister Mortensen," Orlando cleared his throat before continuing, "can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam? Because if it is, I'm warning you--"

"You're warning me?" Viggo stepped close, invading the younger man's space. Orlando did not back away. "All I can tell you, young Mr. Bloom, is that my whole damn garrison believed in it so much that without orders we marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city." He looked directly into the dark brown eyes. "Like I told ya, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped-out by Tuareg warriors. I'll take your bags." He quickly grabbed the bags Orlando had been shifting from side to side and headed onto the passenger barge, leaving the young man with his mouth open.

"Yes, yes, you're right, filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel." Orlando turned to look at his brother. "Nothing to like there at all." Johnny grinned.

"A bright good morning to all." They were jostled when Sala Baker brushed past, tipping his hat to them.

"Oh, no!" Orlando groaned. "What are you doing here?"

"I have come to protect my investment, thank you very much." Orlando and Johnny shared a look as the warden strode up the gangplank.

*

The desert could actually be too cool at night. In the early evening, the waters of the Nile gave up much of the heat stored from the day so the interior of the barge remained uncomfortably warm. Viggo shut the passageway door behind him as he stepped onto the blessedly cooler foredeck.

"Sit down, Mortensen, sit down." Johnny indicated an empty spot next to him at the small table. It was obvious that he and the Americans had been playing poker for awhile. "We could use another good player."

"I only gamble with my life, never my money." Viggo nodded and started for the aft deck.

"Never?" Wood, the shorter American with wild dark curls and bright blue eyes, challenged, "What if I were to wager five hundred dollars that says we get to Hamunaptra before you?"

Viggo paused then returned Wood's cocky grin. "Yer on."

"What makes you so confident, sir?" Boyd finished wiping his bi-focals and slipped them back on.

"What makes you?"

"We got us a man who's actually been there." Monaghan spit a wad of tobacco over the side of the ship.

Viggo's eyebrows rose and he frowned when he looked to Johnny.

"I say, what a coincidence, why--" Viggo accidently hit Johnny in the ribs with his bag. "--whose deal is it? Is it my deal? I thought I just dealt?" He tried not to wince when the American gave his shoulder a hard squeeze as he passed.

*

Orlando enjoyed the cool evening breeze as he tried to read the latest Bembridge publication. Usually, he would devour such a work in a matter of hours if not minutes, commit it to memory and take scrupulous notes. But this evening he had not moved past page three. The excitement of the trip, the possibilities of what they might discover all made his mind race and his concentration slip away.

The gunny sack hit the table with a huge clunk that startled the young man.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." Viggo grinned as he unfastened the buckles on the sack.

"The only thing that scares me, Mister Mortensen," Orlando retorted, "are your manners."

"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?"

Orlando closed his book and put it into his bag along with his glasses. "If you call that a kiss." The American unrolled the heavy canvas carryall. "Did I miss something?" He watched wide-eyed at the massive amount of firearms and ammunition stored in specially designed pouches and pockets in the gunny sack. "Are we going into battle?"

"The last time I was at that place everybody I was with died." Viggo dismantled and cleaned the weapons. "There's something out there, you know...." He loaded the pistols and revolvers and put them into the multiple holsters that hung on his sides. "....something under that sand."

"Yes." Orlando could not help the grin that split his face. "I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book actually. My brother thinks there's treasure." He tentatively picked up a set of brass knuckles from the armaments displayed on the table. "What do you think is out there?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Evil." Viggo took the knuckles from Orlando and stuffed them back into the proper pocket. "The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed. They call it 'the doorway to hell'."

"Ahmar is Ossirion. 'Passageway to the underworld' actually." Orlando smiled at the look the American gave him. "I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. Mortensen, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there; The Book Of Amun-Ra... The Book of The Living. It's what first interested me in Egypt as a child. It's why I came here, sort of a life's pursuit." His dark eyes glowed with excitement.

"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold," Viggo arched an eyebrow at the younger man, "makes no nevermind to you, right?" He pushed various knives into their proper holsters and checked the wrappings around several sticks of dynamite.

"You know your history." Orlando was surprised. Perhaps the American was not as ignorant as he first had assumed.

"I know my treasure." He grinned but went back to adjusting the straps holding his weapons securely but within easy reach.

"By the way," Orlando asked, trying to sound casual, "why did you kiss me?"

"I was about to be hanged...." He shrugged his shoulders as he started packing up the carrysack. "...seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Wha-oooooh!" The young man stormed off, leaving a perplexed Viggo staring after him.

"What?... Wha'd I say?" But his attention was drawn to a sound and movement next to a pile of burlap sacks. Silently, he drew a pistol and moved closer. He reached into the shadows and yanked a small, wiry man out by his shirt.

"Ah, Mortensen, my very good friend," the man tried to placate, "it does my heart good to see that you are a live and well."

"Well if it ain't my little buddy, Andy." Viggo held the pistol to the shorter man's throat. "I think I'll kill you."

"Think of my children," Andy tried to weasel out.

"You don't have any children." Viggo cocked the trigger.

"Someday I might."

Viggo still held the little man firmly in place. "So you're the one leading the Americans, I shoulda figured. So what's the scam, Andy? You take them out into the middle of the desert and then you leave 'em to rot? "

"Unfortunately, no." He tried squirming to see if Viggo had loosened his grip. "These Americans are smart. They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo, so this time I must go all the way."

"Them's the breaks, huh?" Viggo put the gun away.

"You never believed in Hamunaptra, Mortensen." Andy relaxed and rubbed his neck. "Why are you going now?"

"You see that guy over there?" Viggo pointed to Orlando as the young man patted one of the camels stabled on the deck. "He saved my neck."

"You always did have more balls than brains." Andy laughed.

Viggo laughed as well, but the amusement never reached his eyes. "Let's make us even, shall we?"

"Even?" Andy asked. Before he could react, the larger man grabbed him and chucked him over the side of the barge into the dark waters of the river. "HEY!"

Viggo grinned and grabbed his gunny-sack. He could hear Andy yelling and pictured the weasel of a man scrambling to get back on board. But his attention was diverted when he spotted a set of wet footprints on the deck.

*

The heat of the day had finally dissipated from his cabin. Orlando changed into a favorite nightshirt and prepared for bed. He wanted to review his notes on Hamunaptra so he could be up early in the morning to study the map. He dug through his luggage and found his notebook, put his reading glasses on and skimmed it as he moved about putting things back where they belonged.

"Oh, for goodness sakes!" When he missed the hook for the third time and his robe pooled on the floor, he sighed. "I wasn't that great of a kiss!" The only problem was that he could not stop thinking about it nor stop thinking about the man who had shared it with him.

He set the notebook down and walked over to the mirror. What would a man such as Viggo see when he looked at someone like him?

Johnny, his older brother, looked more like their father; compactly built, easy smile, straight dark hair and eyes. Orlando on the other hand seemed to have taken after their mum. Of Egyptian descent, Salama Depp Bloom had been a small woman with a flawless olive complexion, dark brown eyes that were magnetic and rich darkest brown hair that tended towards waves and curls when damp. Johnny had been born in Egypt but when Orlando had put in an appearance nearly a dozen years later, they had returned to England and to the family estates.

He had arrived a month early, small and sickly from the start. Under his mother's care, Orlando had slowly recovered and had begun to thrive by his third birthday just as scarlet fever swept through the English countryside. Johnny and their father had been spared, but Orlando had been hit hard with it and less than a week after he displayed symptoms their mother succumbed as well. Their mother did not recover and passed away while Orlando's fate was still unknown.

The illness took its toll on a little boy desperately missing his mother. He developed asthma and allergies and fell ill to nearly any sickness that passed nearby. As a result Orlando had had a very protected childhood, taught by the best tutors he had thirsted for any scrap of information about Egypt and its history. His only clear memories of his mother were of her telling him endless bedtime stories about growing up in a faraway land and of its rich past.

Jonathan Harold Bloom had been devastated by the loss of his wife, but he did his best to nurture their sons. He loved them dearly for they were a connection to what he had lost. The elder Bloom had hoped his sons would follow in his footsteps, continuing the family tradition of exploration and discovery. The eldest had fallen in love with the 'adventure' part of exploration. Johnny had a keen mind when he chose to use it but he preferred the easy route whenever possible. Orlando was often too ill to even leave his rooms much less consider exploration, although the young boy had a brilliant intellect....

Orlando looked at himself more closely in the mirror. He knew was slightly built and looked younger than his age. His hair was a bit longer than was fashionable but he was always busy filing, researching, translating that he found it easier to have long hair and simply pull it back into a plain pony tail at the base of his neck and not have to worry about regular haircuts. He thought his face was okay; his skin clear if a bit pale because he spent so much time among books and not outside in the fresh air. He shook his head. The American probably thought of him as a boy still.

His brush fell to the floor and Orlando sighed. He bent to pick it up and stood only find a hideous face behind his in the mirror. "AAHH--!!!" A gloved hand cut off his exclamation as he was shoved hard against the wall. Seconds later a wickedly sharp hook was pressed to his throat.

"Where is the map?" Orlando's eyes widened and he glanced over at a small table with the map and a flickering candle. The man pulled him over toward the table. "And the key? Where is the key?"

"Wh-what? What key?" Orlando stammered as he felt the hook pressed harder against this throat.

"Then I'll find it myself." The man grinned evilly.

The cabin door was kicked open and Viggo raced in. "Orlando?!" His pistol was already in hand.

The hideous man in black spun around using Orlando as a shield. Viggo barely had time to register what was happening when the shuttered window burst open and shots were fired towards him. Wood chips erupted from the wall near his head. The American drew a second pistol and fired both simultaneously at the Medjai at the window. There was a cry as the warrior fell backward and a lantern on the wall, hit by a ricochet fell to a sofa spilling kerosene and fire.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Orlando grabbed the candle and jammed it over his shoulder directly into the warrior's eye. The man screeched in pain and released Orlando. He grabbed his bag with his notebook on top and swung it around to hit the man who reeled round, hand over his eye.

Viggo wasted no time and grabbed the younger man and pulled him out into the corridor. Fire already licked at the edges of the doorway.

"The map!" They had made only a few steps down the passageway when Orlando stopped and tried to slip out of Viggo's grip. "We need the map!"

"Relax!" Viggo never let go. He simply pulled harder bringing Orlando with him. "I'm the map!" He tapped his forehead. "It's all up here."

"Oh, that's comforting," Orlando commented but he ceased his struggles and hurried behind the older man.

"C'mon, there's still more of those guys around here somewhere."

*

"Orli!!" Johnny skidded to a halt at the cabin door. Flames were everywhere. But before he turned away, he spotted the puzzle box on the floor. He dashed forward and nearly had it when a hook pinned it to the floor. "Hey that's mine---" He looked up into a barrel of a pistol. Quickly, he backpedaled out the door as shots peppered the doorframe.

*

Viggo and Orlando raced out onto the deck near the horse paddock. Screams and shouts filled the night air. "Here, hold this." He thrust his gunny sack into Orlando's arms as he hurried to reload his pistols.

BLAM! A chunk of the wall blew up next to Orlando's head. Viggo pivoted and fired back. Another lantern fell into the hay and flames leapt up. He shot the paddock's lock off and then fired over the horses head. The animals, crazed with fear, crashed through the door. The Medjai yelled as the horses stampeded toward him. He and the animals went over the rail into the dark water below.

"Can you swim?" Viggo hurried to the railing. The horses were swimming for shore. The man in black was no where to be seen.

"Well, of course I can swim if the occasion calls for it."

"Trust me." He picked Orlando up and threw the young man over the side. "The occasion calls for it."

Viggo was about to dive over the side when shots hit the railing near him. He ducked behind a column and fired at another warrior dressed in black. Another exchange of bullets and Viggo peered around the column to see the warrior running toward him. They collided. Blows were exchange and Viggo head butted the larger man who stumbled dazedly into a door. The door burst open with a roar of flames that engulfed the warrior. The man screamed and careened wildly about before jumping overboard.

Viggo tossed the gunny sack over his shoulder and tightened the strap before he moved again to the railing to abandon the barge. "Mortensen! Mortensen!" He paused as the warden ran up. "What should we do?!"

"I tell you what," Viggo began, "you stay here and I'll go for help." He jumped over the railing without waiting for an answer.

Sala nodded. He turned to look at the rest of the barge and realized what he had just agreed to. He rolled his eyes, growled and then jumped into the river.

*

Johnny hurried to the bow and found the Americans shooting at everything in sight. "Americans."

A hand grabbed him. The man with the hook from Orlando's cabin yanked him back from the railing and shoved him against a wall. The man's clothing was literally on fire yet he was determined to kill Johnny. The hook was raised to strike when a hail of bullets hit the warrior knocking him overboard.

"I say! Good show!" He grinned and then pointed a thumb at himself. "And did I panic?" He lifted his other hand and he held the puzzle box. "I think not." A wall of flames suddenly burst through the deck at his feet and Johnny dove over the side.

*

Mists clung to the banks of the Nile as Viggo, Orlando, Johnny and the warden waded out. Viggo noticed that everyone else was climbing out of the river on the far shore.

"Hey, Mortensen!" Andy yelled across. "Looks to me like I got all the hors-es!"

"Hey Andy!" Viggo cupped his hands as he yelled back. "Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the rih-ver!"

Andy looked up at the stars then angrily kicked the sand as he cursed in multiple languages.

"We lost everything! All our equipment, all my books and notes." Orlando glanced down at his nightshirt. "All my clothes!"

Viggo looked at the young man; his eyes widened when he realized that the wet nightshirt had become virtually transparent and clung to Orlando in some interesting places. He looked away quickly as he dropped his gunny sack to the sand.

"Orli!" Johnny moved to his brother's side. "Really!"

"What?" Orlando frowned. He looked down at himself. "Oh!" He yanked the front of the shirt away from his waist.

"Here." Johnny draped his khaki jacket over his younger brother's shoulders. "It's wet but it's better than nothing."

"Thank you." Orlando blushed furiously and carefully kept his eyes averted from the American.

Viggo was checking his weapons. The carry sack's inner sealskin lining had kept all but a few traces of water out. He made certain the dynamite remained dry in its secondary wrapping. He shook out the water from the pistols he had had in his holsters then wiped with an oily rag.

"You know," Johnny began as he crouched next to Viggo, "he was always escaping from his nanny and running around the house naked."

"Hey!" Orlando stormed over to his brother. "I was TWO!" Viggo grinned and Johnny did not look the least repentant for sharing such an embarrassing story. "Bloody hell!" He turned on his heel and stomped away. "Bloody desert! It's bloody freezing!...." He fumbled to button the jacket around him.

"This would be yours, no?"

Orlando turned to the warden. "Uh...." The old leather bag was soaking wet, water still streamed out the seams. "Yes." He accepted the bag. "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it." Sala smiled, bowed to the young man and appreciated what he saw.

Orlando peered inside the bag and found the case for his spectacles was still intact. He shook the water out and put them in the case. The bottle of ink was still sealed, but the fountain pen dripped black inkstained water. He carefully open it, drained the liquid out and rinsed the pen. There was no sign of his notebook.

*

Fortunately, the moon was full as they walked through the night to the nearest Bedouin trading post. At the start of their trek, Viggo led the way with the brothers behind him and Sala bringing up the rear. That was until Viggo looked back and saw the warden eyeing the younger Bloom. In the cool night air, Orlando's nightshirt had not dried well and apparently Sala was reveling in the view presented to him.

They paused for a moment on a ridge and Viggo glared at the warden who was thoroughly unintimidated. The American noticed the younger Brit shivered in his damp clothes though he had not complained once they left the riverbank. "Orlando, could I ask you something?" On that pretext, the younger man walked abreast with him when they resume their trek.

The boy's hair was still damp as well, Viggo noted. "Hey, this might help warm you a bit." He pulled out the length of black cloth that had been kept dry in his gunny sack. Another short pause on the next ridge and he helped wrap the turban over the dark curls.

"Thank you, Mr. Mortensen." Orlando touched the turban, already feeling warmer as the cloth kept his body heat close.

"You're welcome."

*

"But I only want *FOUR* bloody camels!" Johnny yelled. "That's all we need." The camel trader nodded and pulled four animals close as he gestured and rambled in Arabic.

"Just pay the man." Viggo sighed. He wanted to get moving. The longer they delayed here the less likely that they would beat the American team to the ancient city.

The elder Bloom thrust the cash at the trader who smiled as he slipped into his robes. The leads for four old and ugly camels were handed to him. "I can't believe the price of these fleabags."

"We coulda had 'em for free; all we had to do was give 'em your brother." He took the leads for two of the animals.

"Yes, awfully tempting, wasn't it?" Johnny smirked. Orlando had been less than thrilled to be mistaken for a girl when they arrived at the trading post.

"Awfully," Viggo agreed. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the young man in question emerge from a trading tent. Orlando was dressed in dark trousers with loose long-sleeved light blue shirt and black boots. He finished wrapping a new indigo blue turban around his head, a length left loose to cover the back of his neck. "Then again...."

Giggles erupted from a handful of Bedouin women off to the side that were staring at the young Brit. Orlando frowned as the man they had purchased the clothing from emerged from the tent carrying a folded parasol. The big man grinned at Orlando as he handed to parasol to the American and exchanged a few laughing comments and gave one last long look at the younger man before heading back to his tents.

"Hey!" Orlando was indignant; he had heard everything the man had said to Viggo.

"What?!" Johnny interrupted. "I didn't catch that. What'd he say?" The American grinned but did not offer any explanation so Johnny looked to his brother.

"He said that such a pretty young thing should be protected from the hot sun with a proper parasol!" Orlando growled out the translation. "He seems to think I'm too pretty to be a man!" The younger man grabbed the parasol from the chuckling American. "And he can just shove this where--"

"I'll take that!" Johnny snatched the object from his brother's grasp. "I'm all for taking advantage of shade whenever possible."

The warden hurried out of another trading tent. The traders within were carefully counting the money he had given them. He had several sacks tied to his belt and looked quite pleased with himself.

*

The desert sun was merciless. It beat down upon them as they slowly crossed the Sahara. Viggo's camel was in the lead and was followed by Orlando then his brother. Sala brought up the rear.

"Never did like camels," Johnny commented as he adjusted the parasol so his head and shoulders were in the shade. "Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting."

Behind him, Sala Baker seemed to have done nothing but eat since they had left the Bedouin trading post. He chewed, spit and belched his way through several roasted chickens. Flies buzzed around his head as the juices and grease from the meat dripped on his chin, neck and clothing.

Viggo looked back at the warden trailing behind them. "Yeah, disgusting."

"Well, I think they're cute." Orlando grinned as he petted the animal he was riding.

*

Orlando had dozed a few times during the heat of the day but now as the temperatures became more comfortable he found sleep pulling at him. He forced his eyes open to glance to the left when he sensed movement and he smiled sleepily. Johnny had moved a bit closer to him. Johnny always watched out for him....


	4. Chapter 4

In spite of their age gap, Johnny and Orlando grew very close. The elder sibling looked out for his younger brother; entertained him when he was ill and encouraged him to explore the family estates whenever he was strong enough. Orlando looked up to his older brother, wishing he could be more like him but gratified that Johnny felt he was worthy of his attention. Months of illness had left the younger Bloom with a very serious disposition to go along with his intelligence. He studied incessantly all manner of subjects, though his true passion remained in learning about Egypt's ancient history.

Johnny had been on a dig near Thebes when word reached him of their father's death from heart failure. He had raced home to find fifteen-year-old Orlando being bombarded with requests and demands by relatives and lawyers. It had taken over a year to get matters in order. Johnny had no desire to run the estates on a day to day basis. Taking advantage of his father's most trusted lawyer and advisors and appointed an administrator to handle the estates and investments.

Their parents had set up a trust fund to ensure Orlando's future ten years before. Until the age of twenty-five, the younger Bloom would receive a yearly stipend that would ensure his well being and comfort. Johnny left the handling of the money to an administrator since he knew the man would make good secure investments. He also wisely arranged it so he could not access the funds; he loved his baby brother and would protect him from himself if need be. By the time Orlando received the bulk of his inheritance, he would be very much set for the future.

*

"Care for a piece?"

Orlando blinked as he roused from a doze and turned to the American. Viggo held out a small sack. The young man reached in and pulled out a chunk of what appeared to be a very dry bread. He nibbled on a corner of it. "...hmmm... not bad."

"Yeah." Viggo popped a piece into his mouth. "For Ba-theeth it's okay." The Beduoin travel bread was high in calories but very dry. The coarse dough was flavored only by the dates and butter it was mixed with. He turned and pulled out another small sack. "Try this." The young Brit reached in and pulled out a small cluster of nuts and dates. When he went to bite a piece of it, Viggo shook his head. "No, always suck," he instructed, "don't bite the nuts. *Never* bite the nuts."

Johnny, who had been listening as he nibbled on some dates, choked and spit out a date that hit the warden on side of the head. Johnny coughed again.

"What?!" Sala sat up on his camel. He had been dreaming of feasting and gorgeous women. "What'd I miss?!"

"Nothing," Johnny assured him. "Just Mortensen instructing my little brother on how to suck his nuts."

"What?!" Sala nearly fell off his camel as he tried to see around Johnny.

"Now, this is good." Orlando smiled and took a second cluster of the sweet treat from the proffered sack. The young man was oblivious to the exchange between his brother and the warden. Viggo had heard, however, and he turned and shook his head at Johnny. The older brother smiled, quite unrepentant.

"So...." Viggo turned his attention back to Orlando. "How did your brother and you end up in Egypt?" He nodded his head in the direction of Johnny. "He doesn't seem the type to make a career out of archaeology."

"Well...." Orlando shifted so it was a little easier to see the American. "It's because of me actually...."

Johnny had wanted to stay in England and enjoy the advantages of being young, unattached and wealthy. While he enjoyed his pursuits in Egypt, it had left him with a bit of a reputation and he thought it would be wise to let time smooth matters over. However, Orlando, once his grief had passed, wanted to go to Egypt. He wanted an adventure. He wanted to see the places he had only read about for so many years.

It had taken all his persuasive powers, knowing just what buttons to push, including wistful comments about seeing where their mother had been born and raised and wanting to see what Johnny did on a dig to finally have Johnny agree to an extended trip to Egypt. Even though Johnny had explained that the dig he had left was finished and that it could take months to hook up with another expedition, Orlando was not deterred.

Within days of their arrival in Cairo, Johnny had caught up with some old friends that always welcomed his money in their gambling circles. Orlando discovered over the next few weeks that his brother had greatly embellished his tales of the work he had done on various exploratory digs. Johnny spent more time in town than out on the sites and that he had only been included in the last dig before their father's death because he had won an 'IOU' from one of the digs' sponsors and in exchange had been included in the exploration.

Fortunately, Orlando had learned to speak Arabic from his mother as a young boy and within a couple weeks of being in the country he could communicate fairly well. So he was not stuck at the British Fort while Johnny had his fun with his friends. Orlando arranged to visit the pyramids and other places of interest in and around Cairo....

"You've been a busy boy," Mortensen remarked when Orli finished.

"I'm always been interested in learning new things, Mr. Mortensen. And I'm sure this will be highly educational."

"I'm sure it will." Viggo studied the young man next to him for a moment before he looked around to check their progress.

*

The night deepened and sleep pulled at the travelers. Yet Viggo remained awake. After years of relying upon his wits and instincts to stay alive, he was not one to rest without some sort of guard. Johnny was sound asleep; his head bobbed almost comically to the rhythm of the camel's gait. The warden, fortunately the farthest back, was snoring loudly. At times, the snores echoed across the vastness of the desert night.

Viggo smiled as he watched the younger brother sleep. Somehow Orlando had curled up in the saddle. He reminded the American of a cat. Viggo abruptly stiffened as an odd feeling caused him to turn and look at a distant ridge. Five riders dressed in black on black mounts were silhouetted against the star-filled night sky....

*

While it had seemed near impossible, Sala's snoring had actually worsened as the night progressed. Everyone was now awake except for the slimy warden and Johnny was none too pleased. He wanted to get a few more hours of sleep before facing another day in the desert heat. So he *accidentally* poked the smelly man on the side of the head as he folded the parasol again.

"Whuh? What?!" Sala sat up and squinted into the darkness around them....

*

Dawn was less than an hour away. The travelers were awake because their camels were negotiating some rough dunes. The air was very cool and still until....

"You snore!" Johnny informed the Egyptian.

"I do not snore!" Sala denied.

"All night you snored!" Johnny frowned though the effect was lost in the dim light.

"I have never snored!" Sala denied again. "Fart yes, but *never* snore!"

"We're almost there." Viggo looked at the younger man as they ignored the bickering pair.

"Are you sure?" Orlando was curious. The American had never wavered in his directions across the Sahara.

"Pretty sure." Viggo looked down.

"What in bloody hell is this?" Johnny demanded as he and the others looked down to find dozens of skeletons sticking out of the sands. Sun bleached and eaten away, some of the skeletons looked as if they had tried to crawl out of the desert floor.

"Other seekers of Hamunaptra." Sala jumped when the sound of horses reached them.

The American expedition met them at the far end of the dunes. Two dozen native diggers were behind them with Sean Astin, their Egyptologist. Andy was in the lead. The little man rode a camel while the rest of the party rode horses.

"Good morning, my friend!" Andy looked over the other party of travellers. "Nice camel, Mortensen."

Viggo just nodded as the two parties came to a stop less than a hundred feet apart. Andy and Viggo turned to stare at the horizon, everyone else appeared puzzled.

"Well, what the hell are we doin'?" Elijah Wood demanded.

"Patience, my good sahib," Andy placated the man. "Patience."

"First one to the city, Mortensen!" Dominic Monaghan reminded Viggo. "Five hundred! Cash bucks!"

Viggo and Andy continued to stare at the flat nothingness between them and the horizon. Orlando and his brother shared a look just as the sun started to rise. The colors of the sky changed swiftly.

"Get ready." Viggo glanced at the younger brother.

"For what?" He could feel the suspense, almost a majesty of the moment, but did not understand what they were waiting for.

"We're about to be shown the way."

Far off to the right, a huge shape seemed to rise with the sun. A volcano. Viggo and Andy watched it appear, expressionless.

Wood, Monaghan and Boyd shared a look and then together: "HEYA!!!!!!" The three Americans raced off, kicking their heels into their horses.

"SEE YA THERE, Mortensen!" Wood called out as he past Viggo.

"Ah, begging your pardon, but shouldn't we be going?" Johnny and Orlando stared at Viggo.

"After all, you rode us night and day to win that bet," Orlando pointed out.

Viggo did not say a word, simply continued to stare at the volcano.

Andy shook his head at the men who paid for his services. He spit in the sand. "Fools."

Abruptly the volcano shifted across the horizon, seemingly passing the sun as it moved. The Americans pulled their horses up short and raced the other way. Orlando and Johnny shared a grin as they watched the mirage shift again. It seemed to float across a watery horizon. Again the Americans stopped and changed direction to chase after the volcano. They cursed loudly when the volcano moved once again. They crashed to a stop. Boyd was thrown from his horse. Monaghan ripped his hat off and threw it to the ground. Elijah Wood vented every curse word he had ever heard.

The volcano came to a rest on the far left of the horizon and the Americans were on the far right. Nothing moved for a very long moment. Suddenly, Viggo grinned and so did Andy. They shared a quick look and swatted their camels and raced toward the volcano.

"If you help us win the bet, you get a hundred dollar bonus!" Wood yelled to Andy.

Moments later, Andy swatted Viggo hard on the shoulders with his camel whip, another sharp crack across his arm. The little man was determined to knock the American off his camel. When he raised the whip for a third try, Viggo grabbed it and jerked Andy off his camel. "Good bye, Andy." The little man tumbled to the ground.

"Serves you right!" Orlando yelled down as he passed the sneaky little man. Andy was forced to hurry out of the way as more riders headed directly for him. Orlando whooped as his camel gained on Viggo. He grinned at the American as they came abreast. Viggo grinned back. Suddenly, Orlando's camel sped up even faster. He yelped and held on for dear life as the creature ran full out up the stone ramp that led into the volcano. He still grinned widely; it was great fun.

"Orlando! Slow down!" Viggo called after the young Brit. "SLOW DOWN, Orlando! SLOW DOWN! THERE'S A REALLY BIG--"

Orlando suddenly found himself airborne when his camel stopped abruptly. He tumbled to a stop, flat on his back. He sat up slowly, slightly dazed as he shook the sand out of his turban. Viggo brought his camel to a stop next to the other. "Never mind."

The ramp had been damaged sometime in the distant past; there was a huge drop just inside the rim of the volcano. There was a sloping, narrow path that led around the sand trap.

The Americans rode up and stared in wonder at the ruins inside the ancient volcano. Viggo gave them a huge shit-eating grin. "You boys owe me five hundred dollars."

*

Sean Astin directed the diggers as they hauled rock and dirt out of a temple doorway.

"Hey." Boyd squinted over to another section of ruins where the other expedition was exploring. "Do they know something we don't?"

"They are led by a boy and a mercenary." The Egyptologist shook his head, dismissing them. "They know nothing."

Boyd returned to the poker game with his fellow country men. Nearby, Andy smoked a hookah and swatted at flies. Dozens of stray camels roamed the decrepit city; dusty backpacks and old saddlebags still slung over their humps.

"Where'd all these camels come from?" Wood asked their guide.

"They belong to the dead. They will wait years for their masters to return before leaving."

*

Viggo had secured a heavy rope around a pillar and worked to make it secure. When he whipped the rope around a few times, he accidentally brushed it against the warden. Sala yelped and moved farther away from the crevice that they were preparing to rappel down.

Johnny bent over to have a look, but his butt brushed against something. He yelped and turned to see the decrepit face of Anubis staring at him. "That thing gives me the creeps."

"Be nice. That thing saved my life," Viggo quipped.

"That 'thing' gets me excited," Orlando commented as he moved around repositioning several ancient mirrors.

"The things that get you excited." Viggo arched an eyebrow at the young man.

"According to Bembridge Scholars...." Orlando brushed the dust from the mirror he had just repositioned. "...inside the statue of Anubis was a secret compartment...." He looked over at his brother who had decided to help. "Johnny, you're meant to catch the sun with that," he instructed. "...perhaps containing The Book of Amun-Ra."

"What are those mirrors for?" Viggo asked.

"Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." Orlando grinned.

"Uh... here, this is for, uh, you...." Viggo pulled a leather wrapped bundle from behind his back. "Go ahead. It's something I borrowed off our American brethren." Viggo explained. "I thought you might like it... you might need it... for when you're, uh... uh, yeah."

"What?" Orlando unrolled the package to find an archeologist toolkit complete with chisels, hammers and brushes. "Oh, thank you!" He was delighted. His kit had been lost when the barge sank and the trading post they had stopped at had not had anything remotely like it.

"You're welcome. Don't mention it." He smiled then grabbed the rope and dropped down into the crevice.

*

Viggo used his torch to check out the surrounding area as Orlando, Johnny and the Warden slid down rope into the chamber.

"Do you realize," Orlando pointed out, "we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over three thousand years." He lit his torch from the American's.

"Who cares?" Sala grumbled. He was the last one to drop to the floor. "I don't see no treasure."

"You're welcome to my share of the spider webs." Viggo tried to peer into the dark corners of the chamber.

"What is that god awful stench?!" Johnny sniffed the four air. He turned toward the Warden and realized where the smell was coming from. He stopped sniffing.

Orlando spied a metal disk on the wall. He brushed the cobwebs away and repositioned it on its pedestal. "And let there be... light." A small change of angle and it caught the rays of light from the mirrors above shooting them from one disk to another around the chamber until the entire area was brightly illuminated.

"That is a neat trick." Viggo was impressed.

"Oh, my God." Orlando stared wide-eyed around them. "It's a sah-netjer." The young scholar looked around in awe. "It's a preparation room."

"Preparation for what?"

"For entering the afterlife," Orlando explained. Viggo quickly drew his gun.

"Mummies, my good son." Johnny gently nudged the American. "This is where they made the mummies."

Orlando headed down a narrow passageway and the others followed.

"Just as long as there are no bugs," Sala intoned. "I hate bugs."

*

The passageway fed in a labyrinth of narrow, cobweb infested tunnels. Suddenly, a noise reverberated around them. It sounded like something clawing inside the ways.

"What is that?" Sala demanded from the back of the group.

"Sounded like bugs to me," Viggo commented. They were still moved slowly forward. Their torches burned away many of the webs that draped their route.

"What'd he say?"

"He said," Johnny turned to Sala, "it sounded like bugs."

"Ah!" The man's eyes widened in fear. "Don't say that! I told you, I hate bugs!" He spun around trying to see if there were bugs following them.

The sound grew louder and louder, then stopped abruptly. They all stopped and stared at each other for a moment. Orlando put his handkerchief over his nose. The dust and webs threatened to cause a sneezing attack at any moment. Johnny held his breath. Viggo cocked his gun. Sala farted. The others glared at him.

*

Viggo led the way out of the labyrinth and into a chamber that held the base of the enormous half-buried statue of Anubis. More noises echoed around them as the moved closer and closer to the base. The American handed his torch to Orlando and drew his second pistol. He pushed the younger man behind him as they approached the corner of the statue.

Viggo raised both pistols as he leapt out. Johnny held a small derringer to back him up while the warden also held a small gun. They were met with three gun barrels as the three Americans drew their weapons in reaction.

"Ya scared the bejeezus out of us, Mortensen," Monaghan informed them as he lowered his weapon. His friends followed his lead.

"Likewise." Viggo uncocked his pistols and lowered them. Johnny and the warden lowered their guns as well.

"Hey!" Boyd squinted through his perpetually smudged bi-focals. "That's my toolkit!" He took a step closer to Orlando, who held on to the kit even tighter.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't think so!" Viggo cocked and aimed his pistols at the man.

"Er!" Boyd backpedaled with his hands raised. "I must be mistaken." He was not about to get shot over a set of stupid tools.

"That's right." Viggo waited until Boyd was beside his friends again before he lowered the guns.

"This here is our statue," Wood stepped forward, "friend. We'd appreciate it you'd just move along so we can get to work."

"Don't see your name on it... pal!" Viggo raised his guns one more time.

From the shadows behind the three American's, Andy, Sean Astin and five diggers stepped out with their guns aimed at Viggo and the rest of their tiny party.

"Ten to one, Mortensen," Andy smirked. "Your odds are not-so-good."

"I've had worse."

"Yeah." Johnny's tiny derringer shook. "Me, too!"

Orlando nearly stumbled when the heel of his boot caught on a large crack in the chamber floor. He looked down and toed a couple of small stones into it and heard them hit somewhere not too far below.

"Let's be nice, children." Orlando carefully stepped between the two groups and pushed the barrels down. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share." He looked directly into Viggo's eyes. "There are *other* places to dig."

*

Viggo and Johnny used sledge-hammers against the ceiling and knocked huge chunks of stone down.

"According to my calculations, we should be right under the statue." Orlando was off to one side as he chipped away with a tiny hammer. "We'll come up right between his legs." He paused and glanced at his brother and Viggo who exchanged amused looks. "Oh--" The young man blushed furiously.

"...And when those dirty Yanks go to sleep--" Johnny looked at Viggo. "No offense."

"None taken."

"--We'll sneak up and steal that book right out from under them." He gave another whack with his sledgehammer.

"And you're sure you can find the secret compartment?" Viggo asked the younger man.

"Yes, if those beastly Americans hasn't already found it." Orlando looked at Viggo. "No offense."

"None taken," Viggo assured.

"I say." Johnny looked around. "What's our smelly little friend got himself up to?"

*

With no readily visible treasure in either the chamber the Americans had taken over or in the one that Orlando had directed them to, Sala decided to strike out on his own. He wanted to get rich. He did not give a damn about ancient history or artifacts. Give him gold or jewels and he would be a happy man.

He had headed off down a fairly straight small side passageway. Then it had taken an abrupt right turn and had narrowed and a very low ceiling in some areas. He actually had to crawl through a couple of tight spots.

At last the passage opened into large chamber and when he finally stood up he was amazed to see the walls covered with murals of sacred Scarabs. Embedded in most images were blue gold scarabs that glittered in the torch light. Greed gleamed in his dark eyes as he pulled out his pocket knife and started to pry the precious bugs from the display. He dropped them into his leather pouch.

*

Andy and the Americans hovered around Sean as he brushed the sand away from the seam in the base of the statue. Monaghan stepped forward with a crowbar ready to force the compartment open.

"Seti was no fool." The Egyptologist stopped the American.

"Yeah, sure...." Dominic Monaghan frowned.

"Let's let them," Sean nodded toward the diggers, "do what they've been paid to do."

Sean yelled in Arabic for three of the men to come forward. After a moment of hesitation three men stepped forward, the promise of a bonus at the end of the expedition too great to ignore. The rest of the native diggers backed away and after an exchange of looks, Andy and the Americans backed away as well.

*

"Let me get this straight...." Viggo did not look enthused. "They rip your guts out and put them in a jar?"

"Yes." Orlando confirmed. "And your heart as well. Oh! And you know how they got your brains out?" Orlando enthusiastically explained as they took a break from the digging.

Johnny, off the side, swung his sledge as if it were a golf club, knocking small stones down the nearest corridor. "Orli," Johnny commented, "maybe we really don't need to hear all the gory details?"

"They stuck a sharp, red hot poker up your nose," Orli twirled the small chisel he held for emphasis, "then they scrambled it all about and ripped it all out through your nostrils!"

"OUCH!" Viggo grimaced. "That's really got to hurt."

"It's called mummification." Orlando shook his head. "You're dead when they do this."

"Still...." Johnny mumbled.

"For the record," Viggo turned to Johnny, "if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification."

"Likewise--" Johnny's latest shot ricocheted down the corridor when a huge chunk of the ceiling gave way. Viggo grabbed Orlando and pulled him back as Johnny dove for the far wall. A massive stone casement crashed to the floor.

As the dust settled, Orlando, Viggo and Johnny cautiously approached their find. "Oh, my god...." He touched the edges of the object. "It looks like... it looks like a sarcophagus!" He looked up at the ceiling. The base of statue was clearly visible.

"Why would they bury somebody in the ceiling?" Viggo asked as he looked up.

"They didn't." Orlando shook his head. "They buried him at the foot of Anubis. He was either someone of great importance. Or...." Orlando paused and looked between the two men. "Or he did something very naughty...."

*

The Americans and the Egyptologist had heard the rumbles from the chamber below and were on edge as the three workers struggled to pry the secret compartment open. "ZEE-EDA!" Sean ordered. "Open it! ZEE-EDA!" The seam started to give. "ZEE-EDA!" The diggers leaned their weight on the pry bars as the compartment loosened. "ZEE-EDA!"

A pressurized stream of white liquid and steam sprayed the three workers from the hidden compartment. The men's screams were echoed by the Americans and the other diggers as the skin and flesh melted off the unfortunate trio!

*

The warden's leather pouch was quickly filled with the blue-gold scarabs as he pried from the murals. He looked at the walls around and laughed loudly over his good fortune. Just the few scarabs he could stuff into his pouch would make him a very wealthy man. Later, he would return with huge sacks and fill them, then he would be a *very* wealthy man!

Sala dropped a scarab into his pouch and started to pry another. He dropped it into his pouch, but he missed. The blue-gold object fell to the floor unnoticed as he turned to the next precious bug.

His joy was so great, Sala sang to himself as he worked. Unobserved, the scarab twitched in the sand. A moment later, the casing split and a huge, live, hideous dung-beetle scurried out. It raced over to the warden's shoe. The leather provided no barrier as the insect burrowed straight in and disappeared.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" The pain hit and Sala screamed as he dropped his knife. The horrific pain moved from his foot up his leg as he frantically clawed at his pant leg. "HELP MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" he screeched as the pain travelled upward. He ripped open his shirt and scratched and clawed at the hideous lump that moved across his fat hairy belly and chest. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" But nothing impeded the lump's movement. "HELLLPPP MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!--AGG!" He gagged and coughed when it reached his neck and his eyes bulged as the lump vanished into his cheek.

*

Orlando carefully brushed the dirt and sand away from the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus. He pulled out his glasses and put them on as he peered closely at the glyphs.

"Well?" Johnny impatiently drummed his fingers on the casement. "Who is it?"

"Umm...." The young man frowned. "'He that shall not be named'," he translated. "Ah-ah-ACHOO!" Orlando quickly blew his nose. "Sorry, allergies."

Viggo nodded, but his attention was drawn to another section of the casement's lid. "I think there's some sort of lock here." He blew hard and cleared the sand away to reveal an embedded disc with a distinctive sun-shaped inner design.

"Whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out," Johnny commented.

"No kiddin'," Viggo agreed. "It'll take us a month to crack this thing without a key."

"A key?!" Orlando's eyes brightened with inspiration. "A key! That's it! That's what he was talking about."

"Who?" Viggo looked to Johnny, who shrugged. "Who was talking about what?"

"The man on the barge." Orlando rummaged through Johnny's pack. "The one with the hook. He was looking for a key." He smiled when he found the puzzle box.

"Hey, that's mine!" Johnny pointed out.

Orlando rolled his eyes and with nimble fingers pressed and slid a few slots and the box unfolded. He grinned and set it in the lock Viggo had discovered. It was an exact match.

"AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The trio jumped and hurried toward the passageway. Johnny grabbed the puzzle box before he followed his brother and the American.

*

Orlando and Viggo stopped when they caught sight of the warden running madly toward them. He screamed and bounced off the walls, apparently insane. Johnny skidded to a halt and accidentally pushed his brother into Sala's path. Viggo tried to grab the warden, but was unable to hold on. Orlando was bounced aside by the wild man's girth, his breath knocked out.

Johnny and Viggo chased after Sala only to watch him run full tilt into a rock wall. Even from their distance with the man's screams still echoing, they heard his skull crack and the warden's lifeless body dropped to the floor. Orlando caught up with them a moment later, gasping.

*

"What do you suppose killed him?" Orlando asked.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Johnny looked at his brother.

The younger man still looked pale. Between the dust, and god-knows-whatever-else that was in the air in the ancient labyrinth, his breath being knocked out him and the shock of the warden's death, Orlando had suffered a mild asthma attack. Though he tried to brush it off, the American had taken one look at the young Brit's too pale face, heard the labored breathing and hustled Orlando directly out of the depths of the city.

To his immense embarrassment, Orlando had spent the afternoon resting at their campsite while his brother and Viggo took care of the warden's body. He had dozed for a short while then had written a detailed account of what taken place in depths of the City of the Dead. Of course, he had not quite known how to describe what had happened to the fat Egyptian warden.

"Seems the Americans had a little misadventure of their own today." Viggo joined them at the campfire. "It seems three of their diggers were... melted."

"What?" Orlando's eyebrows rose. "How?"

"Salt acid, pressurized salt acid." Viggo tossed a piece of tinder in the fire. "Some sort of ancient booby-trap."

"Maybe this place really is cursed," Johnny suggested. A sudden gust of wind blew through the camp and the two men exchanged a nervous look.

"Oh, for goodness sake," Orlando laughed. "You two!"

"Don't believe in curses, huh?" Viggo asked.

"No." The younger man shook his head. "I believe if I can see it and I can touch it then it's real. That's what I believe."

"I believe...." Viggo cocked his rifle. "...in being prepared." He and the young Brit shared a smile.

"Yeah, well...." Johnny pulled the warden's pouch over to his lap. "Let's see what our smelly little friend believed in." He tried to peer into the dark interior, but could see little. Johnny pushed his hand into the depths and rummaged around. "AAHH!!"

"WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?!" Orlando and Viggo jumped and demanded at the same time.

"Ah...." Johnny sucked at his finger before he reached back into the pouch. "A broken bottle." He pulled out a liquor bottle with a chipped top. "Glenlivet?" He tipped the pouch upside down and sand poured out. "Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste!" Johnny smiled at the bottle then pulled the cork and took a healthy swig.

Abruptly, Viggo stood and listened to something in the distance. He threw the rifle to Orlando. "Stay here!" He spun round and took off running through the ruins.

"Wait!" Orlando immediately got up and followed. "Wait for me!"

"Orli! Excuse me!" Johnny grabbed a gun and the bottle of whiskey and followed. "But didn't the man just say STAY HERE?!"

*

Viggo rounded a corner and pulled up short as at least two dozen riders in black galloped through the American camp. Rifles were fired and torches were tossed into tents. The Americans emerged from their tents firing and brought down a handful of riders. Several diggers were killed as they tried to escape. Wood took a hit in his shoulder. He spun around and fell, but kept shooting. Monaghan and Boyd ran to his aid blasting away at any riders that approached their friend. Viggo added his fire power to the Americans, taking down rider after rider.

Orlando tried to stay in the safety of the shadows as he followed Viggo toward the chaos. Suddenly, he heard a horse galloping behind him and he turned quickly to see a tattooed rider racing directly toward him. Panicked, he barely managed to get the rifle up and pull the trigger. The blast knocked the rider off his mount; at the same time the vicious kickback dropped Orlando like a stone.

Johnny found a bit of cover behind a half-crumbled wall. He took another swig of the whiskey before he fired the pistol and took down a black rider. He jumped when Andy joined him in his hiding spot, but did not object when the little man took a big swig of the hard liquor. However, before Andy could swallow a black rider bore directly in on them.

"SPFIFFFTT!!!"

Johnny had no chance to dodge the spray of alcohol, but one look at the rider and he leapt from his spot and ran toward where he had last seen the American. "Mortensen! Mortensen! HEELPP!!" He could hear the horse and rider gaining on him. At the last minute he dodged to the side as Viggo launched a flying tackle from a nearby wall.

Viggo and the rider slammed to the ground and both rolled immediately to their feet. Viggo's first shot, at nearly point blank range, kicked the scimitar out of Ardeth Bay's hand. Another horse galloped between them, its rider's scimitar nearly took the American's head. But a last second duck, followed by a shot and the rider toppled from his horse. When he turned to fire again, Ardeth had retrieved his sword and used it to knock Viggo's pistol from his hand.

The razor sharp blade sliced the air uncomfortably close. Viggo turned and rolled near a fire and stood up with a stick of dynamite in his hand. The short fuse hissed as it burned.

"Enough! Yallah!" For a long moment, Ardeth Bay studied his opponent. "We will shed no more blood, but you must leave!" Finally, he pointed his scimitar towards the American's head. "Leave this place or die!" Another tattooed rider held his horse's reins. He grabbed them and leaped on the dark animal's back. "You have one day!" The leader of the Medjai led his men out of the ruins into the desert. "Yallah! Nimishi!"

Viggo watched them vanish into the night. He pulled the fuse from the dynamite and tossed it into the fire. He slipped the stick of explosive into his bandolier, looked around and spotted Orlando lying in the sand. The young man groaned as he pushed to a sitting position.

"You all right?" Viggo crouched next to him and looked for possible wounds.

"Uhumm...." Orlando coughed. "Yes, I think so."

Viggo nodded and stood. He offered a hand to help the younger man to his feet. Orlando was careful not to wince as he stood, although his shoulder felt like a mule had kicked him.

Monaghan and Boyd helped Wood to his feet. "See! That proves it! Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand!"

"For them to protect it like this, you just know there's got to be treasure down there," Monaghan agreed with his friend.

"These men are a desert people. They value water not gold," Viggo pointed out as he looked out into the dark desert.

"You know," Wood started, "maybe we could umm... combine camps?" At the look from his friends, he added, "Just after dark? Maybe?"

*

Johnny snored softly, unaware that his bottle of whiskey had been liberated from his drunken grasp. Viggo offered the bottle to Orlando.

"Unlike my brother, Sir," the younger man, clearly in his cups, waved the bottle away, "I know when to say no." He spoke in that overly careful, overly enunciated way that the inebriated attempted to use to mask their true state. Normally, he would never have taken more than a sip or two of the hard liquor, but his shoulder was throbbing and the alcohol helped deaden the discomfort.

Viggo nodded. "Unlike your brother, young Sir, you I don't get." He finished off the bottle before chucking it away. "You're a whole new brew."

"I know." Orlando's silly grin brightened and Viggo could not but help to think how devastatingly gorgeous the young man was. "You're wondering, what's a nice place like me doing in a boy like this?"

"Something like that."

"Egypt is in my blood." Orlando explained carefully. "My father was a famous explorer. He loved Egypt so much that he married an Egyptian - my mother! Who was quite an adventurer herself."

"Okay, I get your father, I get your mother and I get your brother," Viggo paused then continued, "but what are you doing here?"

"...oooohh!" Orlando was quite affronted that his presence was being questioned. "I may not be an explorer... or an adventurer or, or a treasure hunter or... a gunfighter, Mister Mortensen!" Orli pushed himself to his unsteady feet. "But I'm proud of what I am!"


	6. Chapter 6

"And what is that?"

Orli flopped down once again next to Viggo giggling madly. A huge smile lit his face as he proclaimed, "I, Sir.... am a librarian!" Another grin and he leaned in very close to the older man. "I am going to kiss you, Mister Mortensen."

"No, you're not."

"I'm not?" Orli frowned, very confused.

"Not unless you call me Viggo," the older man explained.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because that's my name." Orlando blinked at him for a long moment then with a goofy smile leaned closer. Viggo moved to receive the kiss only to find he suddenly had a lapful of unconscious, gorgeous young man. Viggo sighed and looked at the dead drunk young man whose face was pressed to his crotch. Another sigh and Viggo glanced up to the heavens before he carefully moved Orlando to his bedroll.

*

The excitement of the day, the talk his parents and his thirst for adventure led Orlando's dreams to his first weeks in Cairo. He really had been horribly bored when Johnny had gone off with his friends for days at a time. He did not feel comfortable wandering large areas of the city on his own as the embassy warned against such activities for visitors. It was too easy to wander into unsafe areas.

He took to haunting the Cairo Museum of Antiquities instead. His parents had been major benefactors of the museum and he recalled seeing letters of appreciation for regular donations after his father had died. He especially enjoyed the file room as he found the piles of old journals fascinating. Late one afternoon he had been digging through a pile, when he heard someone stomp into the file room. He instantly recognized the curator.

"Dammit!" He had only met Sean Bean once and had been intimidated by the man. The man was always serious and always seemed to be in a hurry. "Where the hell did those benefactor reports get lost to this time?"

Orlando glanced to his right and saw at the top of a stack of folders, books and papers something that looked like reports. He picked up the sheaf of papers and edged out of the corner he had been sitting in. "Ummm...." The curator whirled around to glare at him. "Are these what you're looking for?"

"What?" The man grabbed the papers and skimmed them quickly. "Yes." He was out the door before Orlando could think of anything to say. A moment later a fit of sneezes nearly set off an asthma attack and he was forced to return to the fort to rest.

A few weeks later, Orlando was again comfortably ensconced in an alcove studying an expedition journal when he sensed he was being watched. He looked up and found the curator staring at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm...." Orlando scrambled to his feet. "I... uh...." He brushed the dust from his hands.

"Wait." The older man frowned at him. "You were here before...." He stared at Orlando then continued, "Right. The report I needed...." He glanced around the room. "You don't work here. I know because when the idiot that last held the position left we discovered how badly he had mucked things up.... So who are you?"

"I'm... I'm Orlando Bloom." Orlando held out his hand. "We met in passing a couple months back, but you were busy and I don't expect you'd remember me." The older man's grip was warm and strong.

"Oh," the curator paused, "wait... Bloom? Did you say?" Orlando nodded. "Your parents wouldn't have been Harold and Salama Bloom?"

"Actually, yes, they were--AAHHCCHHOO!!!" He barely managed to cover his nose as he dug around in his pocket for a handkerchief. "Oh, thank you." He gratefully accepted the crisp linen cloth. There was no delicate way to handle the situation so Orlando quickly wiped his nose and his hand.

"Oh, right." Sean gave him a long look. "My condolences." Orlando nodded. "I remember now, they had two sons. I've met your brother a couple of times." He glanced around the room again and took in the younger man's decidedly dusty appearance. "So what brings you here?"

"Well," Orlando shrugged, "it's sort of a long story.... But while my brother looks into another expedition, I decided to check out the museum...." He glanced around them. "I made such a nuisance of myself asking the docents for more information on the displays, one of them finally showed me where to find some of the research materials for myself."

"Hmmm...." Sean looked around the room again and frowned. He disliked that any part of his museum should be so unorganized and neglected. "Too bad you're not looking for a job. We could use someone to start a new and proper catalogue of this horrid mess of a research library."

"Really?" Orlando brightened. "I learned the proper cataloging techniques when I was twelve. I wanted to help my father reorganize his collections...." Oh, suddenly his eyes felt watery; sometimes he just missed his father so much. He blinked hard several times.

"Well, the position doesn't pay much." Sean motioned for him to follow. "But you'd have a free hand at getting these materials into a suitable and usable state...."

*

As Johnny claimed ownership of the puzzle box, he had the honor of turning the key in the lock on the lid of the sarcophagus. After three quarters of a turn, there was a loud click and a giant hiss as it unlocked.

The trio then slowly worked at sliding the heavy lid off the stone casement. They all look slightly worse for wear after sharing the whiskey the night before. The lid seemed to move only grudgingly, barely an inch at a time.

Orlando paused for a moment, rolling his shoulder to release the stiffness. "I can't believe I allowed the two of you to get me drunk."

"Don't blame me," Johnny told his brother, "I don't even remember being there."

"Well, neither do I, thank you." Orlando glared at his brother and started pushing again.

"You don't?" Viggo looked faintly hurt.

"No." The young man looked nervous. "Why?... Should I?" They continued their efforts to remove the lid.

"Gee--"

The lid abruptly fell and crashed loudly to the ground. All three of them grabbed their sore heads and moaned.

*

"Awam! Awam!" The remainder of the native diggers struggled to pull out an ornate chest from the hidden compartment revealed the day before. "Djaceb, djaceb!" The Americans watched from a safe distance as Astin instantly moved in closer as the chest was settled on the floor. Wood held his arm close in its sling as he looked over the Egyptologist's shoulder.

"There is a curse upon this chest," Sean translated the hieratics.

"Curse my ass." Wood shook his head in disgust.

"Yeah, who cares?" Monaghan glanced at the diggers, who were huddle near the far entrance.

"In these hallowed grounds, that which was set forth in ancient times, is as strong today, as it was then." Astin sounded deadly serious.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Monaghan mollified. "What's it say exactly?"

"'Death will come on swift wings to whoever opens this chest'." A gust of wind blew through the chamber and the torches flickered. All the diggers turned and ran off screaming.

"It says," Astin continued, "'there is one, the undead, who if brought back to life, is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse'."

"Yeah, well, let's just make sure we don't bring anybody back from the dead then, huh?" Monaghan looked at his friends. They laughed nervously.

"'He will kill all who open this chest'." The Egyptologist brushed some dust out off the lid. "'And assimilate their organs and fluids'."

"Assimilate their organs and fluids?" Wood's blue eyes were huge. "Ya mean eat 'em?"

"'And in so doing he will regenerate. And no longer be the undead, but a plague upon this earth.'" The wind whistled through the chamber; torches flickered, nearly going out.

"We should not be here," Andy muttered. "This is not good."

*

Johnny and Viggo propped the inner coffin upright against the far wall. Orlando was all but bouncing in his excitement; his hangover forgotten as well.

"Oh, my God!" He examined the outside of the coffin. "I've dreamt about this ever since I was a little boy."

"You dream about dead guys?" Viggo asked.

Orlando gave him a disgusted look as he brushed dirt and cobwebs from the coffin. He froze. "Look, all the sacred spells have been chiseled off." He touched the surface. "The hieratics and hieroglyphs that protect the deceased on his journey into the afterlife, they've been removed. This man was cursed... doomed."

"Tough break," Viggo quipped.

"Yes, I'm all tears," Johnny added. "Now let's see who's inside, shall we?" He inserted the puzzle box into the lock on the cover and cranked it. A moment later they heard the distinctive click of the lock releasing.

Viggo and Johnny worked from opposites of sides of the cover to pry it loose. The lid seemed determined to remain in place. Both men grunted as they continued their struggle--

Suddenly, it came loose and crashed to the floor.

"AHHHHH!!!" The trio yelled and jumped back from the thing inside that tilted outward.

*

Monaghan and Boyd reached for the chest, but were distracted when Andy yelled. "The Curse!" The little man backed away, sweating bullets, shaking. "Beware the curse!" He turned and bolted from the chamber.

"Stupid superstitious bastard." Elijah spit tobacco juice in the direction Andy had disappeared.

A whoosh accompanied by a cloud of black vapor escaped from the chest as the seal broke. It obscured the entire room.

*

Viggo, Johnny and Orlando stared in shock and disgust at the mummy that leaned out of the coffin.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Viggo asked.

"No." Orlando sounded very certain. "I've never seen a mummy look like this. He's... he's still...."

"Juicy?" Viggo and Johnny answered together.

"Yes." The younger man nodded. "He's more than three thousand years old and seems to be still decomposing."

"Hey." Viggo's attention was drawn to the coffin lid. "Look at this."

They crouched down to examine the inside. Orlando gingerly touched the deep groves and scratches. "Oh, my god, he was buried alive!"

Neither Viggo nor Johnny had anything clever to say to that.

"And look at this." Orlando pointed to grouping of hieratics deeply scratched into the surface. "It says 'Death is only the beginning'." Johnny shivered.

Viggo glanced around nervously. "Where's my gun?"

"What are you going to do? Shoot him?"

"If he decides to wake up, hell yes!" The American glared at the decaying mummy.

*

The vapor settled slowly. The Americans had their guns aimed at the chest. Astin slowly stepped up and reached inside. He lifted out a heavy burlap bag. Everyone held their breath as he pulled out a huge ebony book, The Book of the Dead.

"I have heard tell of this book," the Egyptologist whispered in awe. "But I never truly believed it existed." He grinned at his companions. "This, good gentlemen, is a most priceless treasure."

"I wouldn't trade ya for a brass spittoon!" Monaghan kicked the floor in disgust.

"Yeah! It's supposed to be made outta pure gold!" Wood pointed out as he kicked the chest. The side broke open and revealed a lower compartment. It was filled with five sacred canopic jars; they were ones that held Anck-su-namum's organs. One of the jars was shattered and without adornment.

*

Orlando headed to the fire, but he paused when he saw Sean Astin struggling to open the ebony Book of the Dead. He bit his lip for a moment. "You'll need a key to open that." The Egyptologist stared at him as he hurried away.

*

The two camps had joined ranks and shared a large fire pit. Viggo and Andy roasted chunks of hairy meat over the fire. Johnny wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell as he sat down with the little man between him and Viggo.

"What is this stuff?" He shifted his seat so he would be upwind. "It smells almost like our late friend the warden."

Viggo and Andy grinned but said nothing.

"You did not!?" The Brit was horrified. "We're not!?"

"Relax!" Viggo reassured the man. "Rat gizzards. They smell bad and taste worse, but that's the best the desert has to offer."

"Say Mortensen," Monaghan commented as he sat down. "Whaddaya think these honeys'll fetch back home?" He held up a beautiful jewel encrusted jar.

"We hear you gentlemen found yerselves a nice gooey mummy." Boyd grinned as he sat with his treasure. "Congratulations."

"Ya know if ya dry him out, you maybe you can sell him for firewood," Wood suggested. He had his piece of the treasure nestled in his sling. The Americans laughed.

"Look what I found." Orlando walked over to the fire.

"You're in his spot," Viggo informed Andy.

"So...."

"So move." Viggo gave the little man a hard look. "Now!"

"Okay. Okay," Andy grumbled as he got up and moved to another spot. "I can take a hint."

"Scarab skeletons. Hundreds of them." The young Brit sat between Viggo and his brother. "I found them inside our friend's coffin. Flesh eater beetles. They can stay alive for years living off the flesh of a corpse, or in this case...." He shrugged and dropped the small pile on the ground at his feet.

Viggo and Johnny looked at the remains and shared a disgusted look.

"Are you saying somebody threw these things in with our guy, and they slowly ate him alive?" Viggo asked.

"Very slowly," the young man confirmed.

"He certainly was not a popular fellow when they planted him." Johnny poked at the fire with a long stick.

"I still think," Viggo commented, "that he musta got a little too frisky with the Pharaoh's daughter." The American's chuckled over the thought.

"According to my studies, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai," Orlando explained. "The worst of all ancient Egyptian curses. The one reserved for only the most evil blasphemers. In all of my research, I've never read of this curse actually having been performed."

"That bad, huh?" Viggo asked.

"Yes, they never used it because they feared it so." Orlando saw he had a captive audience. "It's written, that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt."

"The ten plagues?" Viggo repeated. "You mean all ten plagues?"

"Like what that Moses guy did to that Pharaoh guy?" Andy asked.

"That's one way of putting it." Orlando looked at the faces staring at him.

"Let's see, there was frogs, flies, locusts...." Johnny counted them off.

"Hail and fire," Boyd offered.

"The sun turning black," Monaghan added.

"Water turning to blood." Wood looked more than a bit worried.

"And my personal favorite," Johnny quipped, "people covered in boils and sores."

Everyone shared nervous looks. Orlando laughed and pulled a meat stick out of the fire. "Fried gizzard anyone?"

*

Orlando left the small side area they had designated for a loo and stepped past the sleeping diggers. He paused once again when he saw the Egyptologist asleep with his canopic jar snug under one arm and the Book of the Dead loosely held under the other. The young Brit stared at the book and nervously bit his lip. He glanced around to see if anyone was awake. Quietly, he moved close, took the book and tip-toed away.

Lying on some blankets by the campfire, Viggo was asleep with a rifle cradled in his arms. Orlando headed directly from his brother's pack and retrieved the puzzle box. He knelt by the ebony book and fumbled to open the key.

"That's stealing you know."

Orlando glanced back at the American. "According to you and my brother, it's borrowing."

Viggo sat up and moved closer to the young Brit. He studied the huge book. "I thought the Book of Amun-Ra was supposed to be made out of gold?"

"It is." Orlando opened the key and set it in the lock on the cover. "This is not the Book of the Living. I think this is the Book of the Dead."

"The Book of the Dead?" Viggo's eyebrows rose. "You sure you outta be playin' around with that?"

"It's just a book," Orlando assured him. "No harm ever came from reading a book." He turned the key and the locks released. The young man opened the cover and the fire flickered in a sudden gust of wind.

Viggo looked around. "That happens a lot around here."

"Ahm kum Ra. Ahm kum Dei." Orlando followed the hieratics. "It speaks of the day and the night."

As Orlando continued to read the Ancient Egyptian text, the wind picked up and moans could be heard. Viggo looked around them nervously and cocked his rifle. The very air seemed to crackle around them as the young Brit finished the page.

"NO! NOOOO!" They turned to see a wild-eyed Sean Astin running toward them. "YOU MUST NOT! YOU MUST NOT READ FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD!!!" The Egyptologist skidded to a stop as a strange piercing whine was heard from out in the desert. Viggo, Orlando and Johnny leapt to their feet as the Americans ran out of their tents. The diggers shook as they woke.


	7. Chapter 7

As the sound built, growing louder and closer, everyone suddenly saw it was a huge swarm of locusts bearing down upon them. Viggo and Johnny grabbed Orlando and they ran for the crevice. Andy and the Americans ran for the temple.

"What have we done?" Astin held the Book of the Dead as locusts clung to him.

*

In the labyrinth of passageways below, Viggo, Orlando and Johnny moved along as they slapped at the insects and pulled them out of their hair.

"Did you see that!? Grasshoppers!" Johnny winced as he yanked a locust that was attached to his ear. "Billions of grasshoppers!"

"That's one of the plagues, right?" Viggo asked. "The grasshopper plague!"

"This is not a plague." Orlando shook his head even as he yanked more of the creatures from his hair. "It's generational. Every so many years the locusts of Egypt have a population explosion and they all take flight." Orlando stepped forward and something squished loudly.

Viggo lowered his torch. "Okay." They saw that the entire floor was covered with slimy frogs. "And what about frogs?"

*

The Americans ran into a passageway. Boyd tripped and when he hit the floor his bifocals skittered across the floor. "My glasses!" He felt around for them. Seconds later, Andy raced past and his sandals crushed the fragile lenses. Billy picked up the frames and squinted at the shattered lenses.

Carefully, he pushed himself to his feet and squinted into the darkness. "Elijah?! Dom?!"

*

They left the frogs behind as they hurried deeper into the underground corridors. Suddenly the ground began to shake and directly in front of them a hill of sand grew higher and higher. When it was nearly four feet tall the top broke open and hundreds of chittering scarabs erupted.

"Run!" Viggo pushed Orlando and his brother ahead of him. He turned and fired his rifle into the wave of beetles chasing them.

*

Billy trailed his hand on the wall as he slowly made his way down the passageway. A noise at the far end caused him to pause. "Elijah?" He squinted. "Is that you?" There was someone there. He was almost certain of it.

"Dom?" Billy tripped on some unseen debris and stumbled forward. His hand sunk into the depths of... something. He jumped back as if burned. He looked at his hands. They were covered putrid, decayed flesh. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIEEE--!!!" His screams ended when a skeletal hand covered his mouth.

*

Their lead swiftly disappeared as Viggo, Orlando and Johnny raced up a long, curved ramp. The scarabs chittered as they scurried closer. Viggo and Johnny leapt onto a pedestal to the left of the ramp and Orlando jumped into a small grotto along the wall. The bugs raced past between them.

Orlando sighed and took a deep breath. He leaned back against the cool stone wall. Abruptly, the wall pivoted and he fell backward through the dark opening. Viggo and Johnny watched the scarabs vanish up to the next level. They looked across the way and Orlando was no where to be seen.

"Orli?!" Johnny called.

"Orlando?" Viggo leaped across to the grotto.

"Orli!"

"Orlando!!"

*

Orlando sat up slowly and shook the sand out of his hair. Dammit, he really was getting tired of being dumped into the sand. The chamber he found himself in was only dimly lit by a crack in the ceiling. A tiny shaft of moonlight barely gave him enough light to look around and realize that the chamber was huge and the walls covered by glittering murals. He moved close and saw jeweled scarabs were embedded in the designs.

He heard a soft moan and whipped around. Across the chamber, near one of the exits he spotted someone. "Oh! Thank goodness!" He moved closer and recognized the man. "Mr. Boyd, I'm so glad I found you." He reached out toward the man who faced away. "You see, I lost everyone and I--"

Billy turned around and Orlando froze. The man's eyes were gone, the eye sockets empty.

"AAAHHHH!!!!!" Orlando screamed. He backed away, gasping and wheezing.

"...hheee toouk mii eeyezzz...." Billy mumbled. "...mii eeyeez ahnn' mii tuhnguh...." Horrified, the young Brit realized the American's tongue was gone as well.

Something moved and he whirled. "AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" The creature from the sarcophagus with two fresh eyeballs in its sockets advanced toward the young man.

*

Viggo examined the inside of the grotto. "Dammit!" He tapped the stones with the barrel of his rifle. "Must be a trap door around here or somethin'."

Johnny and Viggo spun around when they heard the screams. Monaghan, Wood and a digger appeared at the top of the ramp running. "RUN, YOU SONS-A-BITCHES! RUUUUN!" Viggo and Johnny joined them as they heard the herd of chittering scarabs not far behind. The digger tripped and fell. Viggo turned to help him, but it was too late. The digger screamed as he was inundated by the hungry beetles. In mere seconds, half of him was gone.

*

The creature slowly advanced on the young Brit. It was in no hurry, there was no where for the boy to go. Behind him, Boyd crawled toward a passageway, moaning.

Orlando stopped backing away when his back was pressed against a muraled wall. His breath came in great gasps as he glanced around... looking for something... anything that might help. The creature was close enough that the putrid smell threatened to make him gag.

The creature stared at him for a very long moment. Then it reached for him--

"There you are!" Viggo raced around a corner. "Would you quit playin' around! Let's get outta here already!" He grabbed the young man's wrist and saw the terror in Orlando's eyes. He whirled and jumped back. "WHOA!"

The creature glared at the man and unleashed a primordial shriek just as the Wood and Monaghan reached the chamber. Viggo let loose with his own roar, followed with multiple blasts from his rifle.

The blasts knocked the creature off its feet; half of its ribcage was torn away.

"Come on!" Viggo was not about to wait; he grabbed Orlando's wrist and yanked him along.

"Did you see that?!" Wood asked his friend and they followed the other two out of the chamber.

*

They skidded to a halt as they exited the crevice. At least a dozen armed Medjai surrounded them.

"I told you to leave or die, you refused," Ardeth Bay informed them. "And now you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed the creature that we have feared for more than three thousand years."

"Relax, I got him," Viggo assured the warrior.

"No mortal weapons can kill this creature." Ardeth was not appeased. "He is not of this world." Behind him, two of his men help Boyd join his friends.

"What have you done to him?!" Dominic demanded as he and Wood crouched near their friend.

"You BASTARDS!" Wood spat at the men in black as he cringed at the sight of Boyd's face.

"We saved him! Saved him before the creature could finish its work. Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all."

"You're not going to kill us? UH!" Johnny grunted when Orlando elbowed him in the ribs. The younger man was working to control his labored breathing.

"We must now hunt him down and try and find a way to kill him before he consumes the earth. Allah be with us." Ardeth nodded to his men and they headed down into the crevice.

"I told ya, I already got him!" Viggo reiterated.

"Know this, the creature will be coming for you." Ardeth looked at the American. "He must consummate the curse. And until he does, he will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."

*

"I'm fine! I can get on by myself. I--AHHCHHHOOO!! AHCHOO!! AAAHHCHOOO!!!" Viggo and Johnny just shook their heads and boosted Orlando up onto a camel, even as he continued to sneeze. Wood and Monaghan threw Boyd up onto another. The Egyptologist, still clutching The Book Of The Dead, climbed up on yet another. They all raced out of the City of the Dead into the darkness of the desert.

*

Andy slowly backed around Anubis, eyes wide, guns up. He turned around. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

The creature was directly in front of him. Andy fired his guns but they had no effect on the walking nightmare. He dropped the empty pistols and backed away. The little man was shaking and sweating as the creature continued to move toward him.

In a last desperate measure, he pulled out the dozens of chains and cords around his neck. Shaking, he picked a random religious symbol and held it before him - a crucifix. "And may the good Lord protect and watch over me as a shepherd watches over his flock. And may Satan in all his forms be vanquished forever."

The creature was unaffected. Andy quickly grabbed at the other of the icons. He tried a Hindu Brahma medallion, a small Bhuddist Bodhisattva statue as he blessed himself in Arabic, Hindi, Chinese and Latin. Nothing impeded the creature's advance.

His back against the base of the statue of Anubis, he made one last effort. He held up the Star of David, closed his eyes and blessed himself in Hebrew. The creature stopped.

"The language of the slaves."

Andy opened his eyes and stared open-mouthed at the creature.

"I may have use for you. And the rewards will be great," the creature spoke in Hebrew.

A rotting hand reached out to him and at first Andy cringed then he gasped. In the decayed palm, there was a small pile of jewels. The creature then showed him the broken canopic jar.

"Where are the other sacred jars?"

*

It was a bedraggled, exhausted group that finally rode their camels up to the front gate of the British fort, Fort Brydon. They had ridden straight through, only stopping once at the nearest trading post for water and a few supplies before continuing on. The guards checked their papers and waved them through into the fort.

*

Only a scant few hours later, Viggo slammed open the steamer trunk and grabbed a drawer from a nearby wardrobe and dumped the clothing in. "I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?!"

Viggo headed for the closet as Orlando grabbed what was in the trunk and threw them back into the wardrobe.

"Having an encounter with a three thousand-year-old walking corpse tends to convert one."

Viggo tossed an armload of trousers and shirts into the trunk. "Forget it, we're out the door, down the hall and gone."

"No, we are not," Orlando yelled back.

"Oh, yes, we are." The American grabbed another drawer from the wardrobe and added its contents to the trunk even as the young Brit pulled things out.

"No, we are not." The younger man tried to stop the American. "We woke him up, and we must try and stop him."

"We?! What we?!" Viggo grabbed a pile of books to add to the trunk. "*WE* didn't read that book. I told you not to play around with that thing." The volumes were snatched from his hands before he could put them into the trunk. "Didn't I tell you not to play with that thing?"

"Yes, then," Orlando admitted, "me, me, me, me. I, I, I woke him up and I intend to stop him."

"How!?" He shooed the white cat from the bottom of the closet.

"Hey!" Orlando petted the cat as it jumped up on the bed. "You be nice to Snowball."

"Snowball?" Viggo's eyebrows rose.

"Yes." The cat jumped down and sauntered out onto the balcony. "Johnny named him."

Viggo frowned for a moment. "...As in 'A Snowball's chance in hell?'"

"Exactly." Orlando nodded. "He said it was hot enough."

"Anyway...." With that the American dismissed the subject. "You heard the man; no mortal weapons can kill this guy."

"Then we'll have to find some immortal ones."

"There goes that *we* stuff again. Not me, I am outta here!" Viggo tried to add the shoes to the trunk, but the younger man slammed the lid shut. It caught the American's fingers. "HEY!" He shook his hands to relieve the pain.

"According to that Book, once this creature has been reborn, his curse will spread," Orlando tried to explain as he followed Viggo around the steamer trunk. "And as he grows in strength, so will his curse grow, infecting the people until the whole of the earth is destroyed."

"Yeah? So? Is that *my* problem?" Viggo stopped and turned to look at the younger man.

"It's everybody's problem!"

"Look, Orlando, I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and bring you back." He followed Orlando as he backed around the trunk. "I did, now we're even, end of job, end of story, contract terminated."

"That's what I am to you? A contract?" Orlando tried not to let the hurt show through.

"You can either tag along with me...." Viggo blinked at the teddy bear he found tucked in Orlando's things. "...or you can stay here and play around with Mister Maggot." He shook the stuffed animal at its owner.

"I'm staying."

"FINE!"

"Fine!" Orlando snapped back.

"FINE!" Viggo stormed out the door.

"Hey!" Orlando opened the door. "That's my--!" The old brown bear bounced off his forehead.

*

"I'm the last of the Royal Air Corps still stationed here, you know?" Bernard Hill, late of His Majesty's Royal Air Force, still wore the uniform of his squadron. "All the other laddies died in the air and were buried in the sand." The men shoved him away and Hill staggered across the Casbah to the bar.

"Ever since the end of the Great War, there hasn't been a single challenge worthy of a man like me," Bernard informed Viggo.

"I've heard it before, Bernard." Viggo pushed the old man away from his drink.

"I just wish I would've chucked it with the other laddies, gone down in a flame of glory." The old man eyed Johnny. "Instead of sitting around here, rotting from boredom and booze!"

Johnny sighed when his drink was taken by the old pilot and quickly poured himself a fresh one. Bernard spotting some likely soft touches moved onto another part of the bar. Viggo swallowed his drink. "Tell me, has your brother always been...."

"Oh, yes, always," Johnny confirmed and knocked back his drink. Wood and Monaghan joined them.

"We're all packed up, but the damned boat doesn't leave till tomorrow morning!" Wood took the stool next to Johnny.

"Tail set firmly between your legs, I see," Johnny observed.

"You can talk." Wood turned to the bartender. "I'll take a bourbon." He looked to the Brit. "You don't have some sacred walking corpse after ya." He turned back to the bartender. "Make that a double."

"Same here!" Monaghan added.

"So, uh, how's your friend?" Viggo asked.

"He had his eyes and tongue ripped out." Wood downed his drink in one gulp. "How would you be?"

*

"I'mmm soooh pluheezzed tooo meet yuhoo." Billy's words were slurred because he no longer had a tongue. He reached his hand out to shake hands with his guest, but it was intercepted by Andy.

"I'm sorry, but Prince Imhotep, does not suffer to be touched by others." The little man glanced at his new employer. "Silly Eastern superstition, I afraid."

"Ohhh...." Billy reached for his napkin to blot the drool from his chin. His hand hit his teacup, upsetting it all over the small table. "Ohh.... I'mm soowweee...."

"Oh, that's quite all right, Mr. Boyd," Andy placated. "Prince Imhotep wishes to thank you for your hospitality... and for your eyes... and your tongue."

"Whhhaah?" Billy tried to stand and knocked over the small table.

"But I am afraid more is needed, the Prince says he must finish the job." Andy pushed the American into the chair. "He must consummate the curse which you and your friends have brought down upon yourselves."

The little man looked at the creature covered in black robes and a gold death mask and nodded. He quickly ran from the room. He could hear Billy Boyd's screams as he hurried down the corridor.

*

Viggo, Johnny, Wood and Monaghan clinked their shot glasses together and tipped them into their mouths. The men instantly spit the liquid out. All around men spit out their drinks.

"Sweet Jesus!" Monaghan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "That tasted just like... like...."

"Blood," Viggo answered. They shared a worried look.

"And the rivers and waters of Egypt went red and were as blood," Johnny quoted from memory as they watched the water in fountain in the centre of the casbah turn red.


	8. Chapter 8

"He's here." Viggo jumped up and hurried for the door.

*

The sky darkened as angry black clouds moved in and lightning flickered with accompanying rumbles of thunder.

"Orlando!! ORLANDO!!!" Viggo raced for the young Brit's rooms.

*

Orlando attention was on the text of the book he held rather than on his surroundings as he stepped into the courtyard. A blast of thunder and lightning startled him and he dropped the two books that were tucked under his arm. A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped. "Ahh!"

"We got problems," Viggo told him as he retrieved the dropped books.

A barrage of hail and fire slammed into the courtyard and the surrounding city. Buildings burst into flame. Soldiers, servants and camels ran in every direction as they tried to avoid the maelstrom.

"He's here! He must be! That thing is here!"

"The creature!? Are you sure!?" Orlando questioned.

"Pretty sure!" He gestured at the chaos surrounding them. Footsteps on the stairs behind him drew Viggo's attention and he turned just in time to see Andy trying to retrace his steps. He snagged the man by the scruff of the neck. "Andy, you little stinkweed, where have you been?"

A roared echoed from the rooms above and Viggo dropped the little man. He pulled out his pistols as he and Orlando raced up the stairs.

*

They skidded to a halt just inside Boyd's rooms. Billy, or what was left of him, was still sitting in his chair with the bandages still wrapped around his head. But his corpse was less than half normal size, drained of all organs and fluids. Viggo and Orlando were speechless as they stared at the figure standing by the fireplace.

Imhotep was regenerating. Skin reformed over a powerful, new musculature. Tendons rippled. Bones hardened. Once complete, the creature was half man, half rotting corpse.

"We are in serious trouble." Viggo cocked his pistols. Imhotep moved toward them, his eyes fixed on Orlando.

"Back off, creep!" Viggo opened fire and emptied his guns. The bullets ripped through Imhotep's body, but they did not stop him.

The nearly regenerated Priest of Osiris backhanded the American. Viggo flew backward twenty feet knocking over Johnny, Monaghan and Wood who had just entered. They all stared in shock at the creature.

"You saved me from the undead. I thank you." Imhotep again spoke ancient Egyptian as he advanced on Orlando. "For this, I shall make you immortal." He leaned in close about to kiss the cringing young man when a cat hissed. The priest shrieked when he saw the white cat hissing and spitting in the hallway. The balcony doors blew open and Imhotep spun into blast of wind and sand and swirled out of the doors.

"We are in *very* serious trouble." Viggo and the others pushed themselves to their feet.

*

"He does seem to like, Orli." Johnny and the others followed his brother though the Ramesseum.

"Yeah," Viggo frowned, "what's that about?" The layout of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities seemed almost labyrinth like, but the young Brit knew the way.

"What's this guy want anyway?" Monaghan asked.

"There's only one person I know who can possibly give us any answers," Orlando said. They rounded a corner and came to a dead stop. The Curator was in deep conversation with the leader of the Medjai, Ardeth Bay.

"YOU!"

Viggo and the American's drew their weapons. Ardeth Bay merely scowled.

"Young Mr. Bloom, Gentlemen." Sean Bean nodded his head. The man acted as though he had been expecting them.

"What is he doing here?" Orlando demanded.

"Do you truly wish to know?" Sean Bean asked. "Or would you prefer to just shoot us?

A tense moment passed then Viggo uncocked his pistol. "After what I just saw...." He slid his pistol back into his shoulder holster. "...I'm willin, to go on a little faith, here." The rest follow his lead.

"You will not believe it," Sean stated firmly.

"Try me."

*

"We are part of an ancient secret society, the cult-of-the-Medjai, and we have a sacred mission passed down through thirty-nine generations." They were in the display room devoted to Seti the First. "For over three thousand years we have guarded The City Of The Dead." The curator sat on Seti's throne. "We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world."

"And because of you, we have failed." Ardeth glared at them.

"And you think this justifies killing innocent people!?" Orlando asked in disbelief.

"To have stopped this creature?" Sean frowned. "Let me think...." He and Ardeth answered together, "Yes!"

"Okay, I have a question." Viggo sat on the edge of a sarcophagus display . "He's afraid of cats, what's that about?"

"According to the ancients, cats are the guardians at the gates of the underworld. Imhotep will fear them until he is fully regenerated, and then he will fear nothing," Sean explained.

"Right!" Wood looked ready to bolt at any moment. "And ya know how he gets hisself fully regenerated?!"

"By killing everybody who opened that chest," Monaghan answered.

"And sucking us dry! That's how!" Wood was bordering on hysteria.

"Yes, the creature must first finish his regeneration." Ardeth looked to the curator, who nodded.

Orlando swallowed. "In Mister Boyd's quarters the creature... he tried to kiss me?!...."

"It is because it was you who read from the Book. He has chosen you to be the human sacrifice needed to regenerate the body of Anck-su-namun."

"Anck-su-namun," Orlando whispered. The curator and the medjai stared at the Brit. "In my research...." All eyes were on the young man. "...I came across an inscription.... It spoke of Seti, his high priest... Imhotep, his mistress... Anck-su-namun...."

"This is not good. Not good at all." Johnny moved to stand by his little brother.

"On the contrary," Sean spoke up, "it may buy us the time we need to destroy him...."

"We need all the help we can get." Ardeth Bay stood up and looked up through the sky-light in the ceiling. "His powers are growing...."

Everyone looked up and gasped as a dark disc slipped across the sun plunging the day into night.

"'...and he stretched forth his hands towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt'," Johnny quoted.

*

"We must stop him from regenerating." They had returned to the fort as Ardeth and the curator worked to find a weapon to use against Imhotep. Orlando turned toward Wood and Monaghan. "Who opened that chest?"

"Well, there was me and Elijah here," Monaghan nodded to his friend, "and then poor Billy Boyd of course, oh yeah, and that Sean Astin fella."

"What about my buddy, Andy?" Viggo turned from the window.

"Naw, he scrammed outta there before we opened the damned thing." Wood shook his head. "He was the smart one."

"We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back here to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him." Orlando looked at Viggo.

"Okay, ...Orlando, you wait here." Viggo took charge. "You two come with me." He nodded to the Americans.

"The hell with that!" Monaghan argued. "I'm not goin' nowhere! We're safe here."

"Yeah, I'm not leavin' this fort for nothin'." Wood glared at Viggo.

"Who put you in charge?" Orlando demanded. "You can't just leave me behind like some old suitcase. I'm the one responsible for this mess and I intend to be the one to clean it up."

Viggo shook his head and sighed. He swiftly slung the young Brit over his shoulder.

"Viggo! Hey!" Orlando struggled. "Mister Mortensen, you can't do this! Johnny, help!"

Viggo deposited the smaller man on the bed and then closed and locked Orlando in his own bedroom.

"Mortensen!" Orlando pounded on the door. "Let me out of here!" There was more pounding. "Johnny, let me out of here this instant!"

"Keep an eye on him." Viggo gave the key to Wood. "He does not come out. No one goes in." He leaned in close to the shorter American. "Right?"

"Ummm," Wood gulped, "Right."

"Right?" Viggo stared at Monaghan.

"Right," Monaghan agreed.

"Good." Viggo adjusted his shoulder holsters. "C'mon, Johnny."

"Me?" Johnny swallowed hard and sat down. "I thought I'd just stay here at the fort and reconnoiter."

"Now!"

Johnny jumped to his feet and followed. "We're just off to rescue the Egyptologist." He glanced back at the Americans as he left Orlando's quarters.

*

Sean Astin clutched the Book of the Dead and his sacred canopic jar as he stumbled through the alley. From the bit of information he had gleaned from reference materials he knew he was a walking dead man. But he prayed that if he could just keep moving he could survive long enough to get out of the city, the country. He knew there were ships leaving in the morning. He just had to survive the night.

He moved from one alley to another. Shadows could offer safety or they might hide death.... He thought he heard something moving behind him....

*

Andy was frustrated. His new master had told him that if he found the Book of the Dead or the Egyptologist's canopic jar that he would be handsomely rewarded. Imhotep had promised him wealth beyond his imagination and Andy had a very good imagination.

Only he had not been able to find the book or the jar. He ransacked the Egyptologist's office. Drawers were pulled from the desk and dumped. Shelves were swept clean and bookcases were tipped over.

"Well, well, well...." Andy spun around. Viggo and Johnny stood in the door. "Lemme guess, spring cleaning?"

Andy made a break for an open window, but Viggo picked up a chair and threw it at the little man. Before Andy could regain his feet, Viggo had him by the lapels and shoved him into a wall.

"Where's your new friend?"

"What friend?" Andy looked down at his feet dangling off the floor. "You're my only friend."

"What the hell you doin' being buddies with this creep, Andy? What's in it for you?" Viggo slammed the little man on the top of the recently cleared desk.

"It is better to be the right hand of the Devil... than in his path. As long as I serve him, I am immune." Andy looked around desperately for an escape.

"Immune from what?" Viggo shoved his face closer to the weaselly little man.

"Piszkas allat."

"What was that?" Viggo picked Andy up and shoved him against a file cabinet.

"Why should I tell you? You'll only hurt me more."

"What are you looking for?" Viggo gave the little man the evil eye. He pressed one forearm against Andy's throat and used his other hand to draw a pistol. "Lie, and I'll shoot you right now." He cocked the trigger.

"The book!" Andy squirmed. "The black book they found at Hamunaptra! Imhotep wants it back, said to me it would be worth it's weight in gold."

"What does he want the book for?"

"I don't know." Andy shrugged.

"Tell us!" Viggo picked the little man up and held his head just below the whirling blades of the ceiling fan. "Or you're gonna get a new haircut!"

"OKAY!" Andy gulped. "Something about bringing his dead girlfriend back to life. He needs the book. But that's all he wants. I swear. Just the book, I swear!" He looked at Johnny. "And your brother."

Viggo looked at Johnny and Andy used the distraction to knee the American in the crotch. Viggo dropped the little man and doubled over. Andy dove out the window to the street below.

"That looked rather painful." Johnny cringed in sympathy.

"Ya know," Viggo winced as he stood up slowly. "ever since I met you, my luck has been for crap."

"Yes, I know, I do that to people." Johnny nodded.

A blood curdling scream drew them to the window. Down in the bazaar, people screamed and backed away from the shriveled corpse of Sean Astin. A partially decayed hand retrieved the canopic jar from the dead man's grasp.

Imhotep, his regeneration closer to completion, looked up at the American and the Brit. He grinned and his jaw unhinged. An enormous swarm of buzzing flies erupted from the creature aimed directly at Viggo and Johnny. They slammed the shutter closed. The swam crashed into the shutters and spread throughout the bazaar.

"Dammit!" Viggo looked at Johnny. "That's two down and only two to go."

"And then he'll be coming after Orli." They ran out of the office.

*

Orlando glared at the locked door for a long while. He knew Viggo and his brother had left and that Wood and Monaghan remained in the sitting room. They refused to unlock the doors when he pleaded with them. He stomped around his room for a bit and then figured he might as well use the time to see if anything in his notes or in the books he had might give them a clue on how to destroy Imhotep.

He spread his notes on the bed and added two reference books to the pile. He was thirsty and looked at the pot of tea still on his night stand from the morning. It was cold, but it was better than nothing. He poured the strong tea into a water glass and settled on the bed. Squinting at the text, he blindly reached for his glasses.

Instead his hand caught the glass of tea and dumped it on his lap. "Oh! Oh, good lord." Orlando sighed in annoyance and he quickly stood up. His dark trousers were soaked. He shook his head in disgust as he kicked his shoes off and stepped out of his pants. He looked at the shambles of his wardrobe. There had not been time to reorganize his clothes after the American had tried to pack them. He was not even sure where his clean trousers were in the piles.

"Oh, the hell with it." He spread the pants to dry on a nearby chair and climbed back onto the bed. His research was much more important at the moment. It should not take long for his pants to dry and he would simply put them back on. He pulling one of his pillows close to use as a rest of his elbow and quickly began rereading the texts.

*

Wood turned from the window and looked at his friend. Monaghan was chain smoking as he sat next to Orlando's door. Both looked wired, their nerves stretched taut.

"The hell with this." Wood walked to the door. "I'm goin, downstairs to get me a drink. You want somethin'?"

"Yeah." Monaghan nodded. "Get me a glass of bourbon."

"Okay." Wood opened the door.

"And a shot of bourbon," Monaghan added as Wood disappeared into the hallway. "With a bourbon chaser!"

"Yeah," a voice floated back. "I got ya about the bourbon!"

Monaghan closed the door and locked it. "Don't worry about the door or anythin'."

Monaghan wandered around the room for a few minutes. He did a fancy draw and an equally fancy holstering maneuver with his pistol. A strong breeze made the shutters on the window rattle. He walked over and looked out into the compound courtyard. He saw nothing as he reached to close the shutters and was knocked back by a strong gust of wind filled with swirling sand.

In a matter of seconds, Monaghan's body was twisted and wrung out as life was drained from him. The shell of the man was left in a heap on the floor as Imhotep emerged from the swirling sands. Close, he was very close to complete regeneration; very few spots of decay remained.

The creature stepped over the shriveled corpse and rattled the knob to Orlando's bedroom. The door was locked. Imhotep smiled.

*

Exhaustion had finally caught up with Orlando and he had fallen asleep in the middle of his papers and books. He had been undisturbed by the commotion just beyond his door. He shifted uneasily as a sand began to stream in through the keyhole.

The sand disappeared and Imhotep appeared. He leaned down and kissed the beautiful young man as he slept. The creature's lips and mouth began to decay. The door burst open with a bang and woke Orlando. When he felt the rotting mouth and saw the creature he pulled back, screamed and shoved the creature away. He rolled to the right and dropped to the floor on the far side of the bed.

"Get your hands off him, pal."

Imhotep whirled around to face the American. He gave the man a skeletal grin as he moved toward him.

"I figured you might be here, so I brought a friend." Viggo threw the white cat at the creature. Imhotep shrieked and stumbled backward. He quickly dissolved into a sand-devil and exploded out the window into the compound.

"Are you okay?" Viggo asked Orlando who was wiping his mouth as he stood up.

"I'm not sure, really," Johnny answered as he put his gun away. Viggo rolled his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

Wood walked in and dropped the bottle and glasses when he spied Monaghan's shriveled body on the floor.

"Come on!" Viggo made a snap decision and grabbed Orlando's wrist. "Grab him." Viggo waved his hand to Johnny and nodded to Wood. "It's obvious we're not safe here." He hurried from the room as he pulled a stumbling Orlando behind him.

"Wait! Wait!" Orlando tried to get the American to stop.

"We can't. We need to talk to that curator fellow and his warrior friend." Viggo kept walking. "Maybe they've come up with something."

"Mister Mortensen!" Orlando yelled. "I can't go!" Viggo finally slowed, but he did not stop.

"Why?" the older man demanded.

"Because I don't have any trousers on, that's why!" Orlando blushed as Viggo as well the other two looked at him. His shirt was long, but it barely covered to mid-thigh.

"Oh." Viggo seemed slightly nonplused for a moment. "Here." The man grabbed the edge of a table cloth as they passed close. A swift, hard yank and he handed it to the young Brit.

"Huhhh-how did you do that?" Orlando's eyes were huge as he looked over his shoulder.

"What?"

"That," Orlando reiterated.

Viggo looked over his shoulder and saw that everything on the table was still in place, not even the burning candles had been upset. He shrugged and continued to hurry along.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Orlando stared at the table cloth with the embroidered yellow and red roses and gold fringe he carried.

Viggo sighed. He stopped long enough to grab the cloth and wrap it around the younger man's waist. He put Orlando's hand on the overlap and grabbed his other wrist and pulled him along.

"Oh."

By the time they reached the car park, Orlando's makeshift sarong was dragging and he nearly tripped. He took a moment to rewrap it before slipping into the frontseat betweem his brother and Viggo. "Nice skirt, little brother," Johnny quipped. "Maybe you'll start a new fashion trend." Wood, despite his intense fear, managed a chuckle at the comment.

"Hey!" Orlando popped his brother in the bicep. "It's not my fault! I spilled tea on myself when I was reading trying to figure out what to do about the creature and my trousers got wet and my other clothes were in piles I didn't know which ones were even clean and I figured they dry quickly and so I went back to reading and I do have an idea that might just help us and I musta drifted off because the next thing I knew that-that-that *thing* was kissing me and then it was gone and then Mister Mortensen yanked me out of my room before I could even grab my pants and...." He was gasping by the time he got to the end of that rant. "It kissed me!"

"Orli." Johnny looked at his brother as they drove through the streets of Cairo. "It's okay. Calm. Breathe slowly...." Orlando nodded and tried to control his rapid breathing.

*

"Last month I came across an inscription that mentioned The Book of The Dead." Orlando led the way through the museum.

"That book we found at Hamunaptra?" Wood asked.

"Yes." Orlando held onto the knot of fabric at his hip as they climbed the stairs. "I dismissed it because it talked about bringing people back from the dead. A notion I was unwilling to believe."

"Believe it," Viggo commented. "That's what brought our buddy back to life."

"And now he's going to use it to bring his girlfriend back." Johnny walked next to his brother. Orlando had been close to an attack of asthma just a short time ago.

Sean and Ardeth had a nice view as they followed Orlando up the stairs. They exchanged amused looks over the strange behaviour of the Westerners. Viggo saw the look exchanged by the two men. He frowned and elbowed his way between them. He missed the second set of amused glances that were exchanged.

"And if he succeeds, the two of them together will bring about the apocalypse." Ardeth Bay kept his hand on the handle of scimitar.

Orlando and the curator turned right at the second level with everyone following them. "The plagues we have seen so far are merely Imhotep flexing his muscles. Only at the moment of Anck-su-namun's resurrection will he be truly invincible."

"I'm thinking that if the black Book of The Dead can bring people back to life--" Orlando explained.

"--then perhaps, the golden Book of The Living can return them to the underworld," Sean concluded.

"Exactly." The younger man was pleased that his idea was readily accepted.

"So your sayin', if we find the book made outta gold--" Viggo began.

"--And read the sacred incantations contained inside it," Sean contributed.

"You think it'll send this guy back to hell?"

"Correct--"

Loud chanting was heard from outside. They moved to a window on the upper level and got a clear view of the crowd below. The people moved as if drugged and chanted "Imhotep!" over and over. Their faces were hideous.

"And last but not least," Johnny spoke up, "my favorite plague of them all - boils and sores."

"It has begun. The beginning of the end." Ardeth stared at the mob below.

"Not quite yet it hasn't. C'mon." Orlando led the way to an enormous stone tablet.

Thuds and bangs could be heard on the upper level. The crowd had reached the museum entrance.

"According to Bembridge Scholars the Book of Amun-Ra was hidden inside the statue of Anubis," Orlando explained as he scanned the hieratics on the tablet.

"But that's where we found the black book, the Book of the Dead," Wood pointed out.

"Yes." Orlando's fingers trailed the length of a line of hieroglyphics. "So if the Book of the Dead was where the Book of the Living was supposed to be--"

"Then you think the Book of the Living is where the Book of the Dead was supposed to be." Viggo pulled his pistols as the banging below increased.

"Exactly...." Orlando and the curator were rapidly scanning the tablet working from different ends.

There was a resounding thud and the sound of wood splintering.

"Orli, I think you better hurry." Johnny looked around for possible avenues of retreat.

"Patience is a virtue," Orlando whispered back, his attention on the tablet.

Another crash and thud came from below and the sounds of the crowd increased. "Not now it isn't!" Viggo kept watch on the stairway.

"I'm going to go start the car!" Johnny hurried to the far end of the hall and used the back stairs.

"According to this, the golden Book of The Living should be inside...." Orlando stopped and suddenly smiled.

"What?" Wood stared at him. "WHAT?!"

"The golden Book of The Living is inside the statue of Horus!" Orlando all but crowed his delight. "Take that, Bembridge Scholars!"

"Which would be located not far to the east of the Anubis statue," the curator added.

"Don't tell me we gotta go back out there?" Viggo asked.

"If we want to kill the creature," Sean confirmed, "yes."

*

Johnny peered around the corner of the building before he quickly headed toward his convertible. Suddenly, a small group of Imhotep's mob came around the other side of the museum. Johnny quickly turned and started chanting and marching with the mob. He slowed his pace and the mob moved on.

Once in the clear, he dashed to the car. He barely got it started when Orlando and the others came running from the museum. Everyone jumped into the car and Johnny it dropped into gear just as Andy spied them.

"Imhotep! Lord Imhotep!!"

The creature appeared in the upper windows of the museum. He saw the car and called to his followers.

"You're gonna get yours, Andy!" Viggo yelled back as the mob poured out of the museum.

"Oh, yeah!" Andy retorted. "Like I haven't heard *that* before!"

*

At first they made pretty good progress through Cairo. The late hour meant most of the streets were deserted. When they sped close to a footwear vendor's stall, Viggo snagged a pair of short boots as he flipped a coin into the depths of the merchandise. "Here." He thrust the boots at the young Brit. "You're going to need these if we're headed into the desert."

But then they turned a corner and screeched to a halt. Ahead stood a mob of men with torches and clubs and covered with hideous boils and open sores. Johnny looked back, thinking they could backtrack and get around this obstacle, but another crowd was swiftly gaining on them.

Viggo looked around and suddenly stomped his foot on top of Johnny's on the accelerator. The convertible leapt forward and they plowed into the crowd. A few of the men bounced off the vehicle but most hung on and tried to get a grip on the occupants. Everyone fought them off with punches, kicks and shoves.

Orlando was the most protected between his brother and Viggo in the front of the car. He took a moment to slip the boots on. The first one went on easily. The second one was harder. He bent down to get a better grip on the back of it as it had folded over and would not slip over his heel. At that moment, one of Imhotep's mob flew over his head into the backseat. He stuck his index finger in and tried to ease the boot up. Finally, he gave a hard yank and sat up. His elbow flew back and hit someone behind him.

"I'm sorr--" He turned to see one of the mob holding his nose. "No, I'm not!" The punch hit the man's jaw and he flew out of the backseat. "EEWW!!!" Orlando grimaced at the greenish grey pus that coated his knuckles. He wiped his hand on the back of Johnny's jacket.

"That better not be what I think it is!" Johnny frowned at him, but another of the mob had grabbed onto his arm, His attention was diverted as he struggled to get loose.

"Hey, would I do that to yo--" Orlando's eyes widened when he saw where they were headed. "Watch out!" He yanked the wheel to avoid an abandoned cart in the middle of the road.

In the back, the curator and Ardeth Bey fought the mob on either side as Wood struggled with two men who tried to pull him from the car from behind. Orlando abruptly cranked the wheel to the right and the car crash through several stalls which knocked the majority of the mob from the car. But when they finally pulled into the clear street and raced off, they heard Wood scream as he tumbled backward out of the car too.

Wood managed to shake off the men and rolled to his feet. He fired his pistol as he backed away and all too soon found himself cornered in a doorway. Click. Click. Click. He was out of ammunition. Before he could do anything, the mob parted in front of him and Imhotep walked through. His hand shook as he handed his canopic jar to the creature.

His screams were lost in the roar of the mob as Imhotep completed his regeneration.

*

The convertible swerved easily around a stall that had been pushed partially into the street. But before they could reach the next intersection one of the diseased mob leapt onto running board beside Johnny. The Brit yelped as hands tightened around his throat. He lost control of the car and it crashed nose first into a shop and came to a stopped.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Viggo grabbed Orlando's wrist and pulled him along. "Let's go! Let's go!" Everyone abandoned the car and followed the American through a series of alleys. But the mob was too large and spread throughout too much of the city.

Their backs against a wall as the mob advanced. Ardeth had his scimitar in hand. Sean had a similar blade in his. Johnny drew his pistol as Viggo pulled out a stick of dynamite and a match from his gunny-sack. He looked around for a way to light it. He reached over and zipped it across Ardeth Bay's stubbly face. The Medjai yelped. Viggo held the lit match near the fuse.

Suddenly, the mob parted in front of them and Imhotep, fully regenerated, stepped through. "Oh, my...." Orlando seemed quite stunned. "He's... gorgeous."

Viggo frowned at the younger man then yelped as the match burnt his fingers. He dropped it and pulled a second one and again lit it against Ardeth's cheek. The man yelped again and glared at the American.

"He has consummated the curse," Sean informed them. "Now all he need do is raise Anck-su-namun from the dead, then it will be the end of us and the beginning for them."

Imhotep moved directly to them. Viggo lit the fuse. The creature stepped up to Viggo and they all watched as the fuse burned. Just as it was about to disappear into the stick and ignite, Orlando stepped forward and blew it out.

"Koontash dai na." Imhotep reached his hand out to Orlando.

"Take his hand and he will spare the others." Andy stepped out of the crowd as he translated.

"Any bright ideas?" Orlando eyed the armed and angry crowd surrounding them.

"I'm tryin'. I'm tryin'." Viggo did not sound happy.

"You had better come up with something really good." Orlando looked directly into the American's eyes. "Because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first person I'm coming back to haunt."

"Orlando, no!" Viggo and Johnny tried to stop the young man, but Ardeth Bay grabbed both and held them back. "Don't do this!"

"Don't do it, Orli!" Johnny pleaded.

Orlando looked back at his brother and the others. "I have no choice." He reached out and touched Imhotep's hand.

The larger hand closed around the young man's wrist. Nothing happened. The creature smiled. "Keetah mi pharos, aja nilo, isirlan."

"Come with me, my prince. It is time to make you mine, forever," Andy translated again.

"All eternity, idiot," Orlando corrected the little man.

Imhotep casually reached forward and ripped the puzzle box from Johnny's jacket pocket. "Hey! That's mine!" Ardeth struggled briefly to hold him back.

Imhotep moved through the crowd pulling Orlando away.

Something snapped in the American; Viggo lunged forward as he tried to break free of the Medjai's grip. "Orlando!"

"Be calm," Ardeth advised. "Live to fight another day."

Imhotep gave the American an evil smile. "Pared oos."

"NOOO!!" Orlando screamed and struggled to break free from the creature. "NOOO!!"

"Kill them." Andy smiled.

The angry mob moved in with clubs and knives raised. Viggo looked down suddenly and bent to pull open a manhole cover. He shoved Johnny down inside it. Next he grabbed Ardeth and pushed him in as well. "Come on!" he yelled Sean.

"Go!" The curator twirled his sword. "Find a way! Kill the creature!" Sean threw himself into the mob and slashed and swiped at the nearest men.

As Viggo jumped into the hole, he glimpsed the mob moving in to tear the curator a part.

*

Viggo, Johnny and Ardeth sloshed through the watery catacombs. They heard the mob closing in from behind. They came to a juncture and heard more yelling from another direction. Viggo shoved Johnny and Ardeth ahead of him. He struck a match on the wall and lit the nubby fuse on the stick of dynamite and tossed it behind them.

The explosion knocked Viggo and the other two men off their feet and blew every cistern cover into the air for a several hundred foot radius .

*

"We gotta get him back." Viggo kicked out a grate and stepped out into a deserted alley.

"I'm with you, old man." Johnny followed the American out of the tunnels. "No one touches my brother like that and gets away with it."

"You know where he's taking him?" Viggo asked the Medjai as he joined them in the alley.

"Yes." He nodded. "To Hamunaptra. To perform the ritual."

"And what ritual would that be?" Johnny prompted, plainly worried about what he would hear.

"The ritual to bring the body of Anck-su-namun back to life."

"And how does one do that?" Johnny asked and Viggo also waited for an answer.

"By reading from the Book Of The Dead."

"Oh yes, of course." Johnny nodded.

"And then killing your brother," Ardeth added.

"Excuse me?"

"Imhotep is now able to cross the desert with great haste." Ardeth looked to the American.

"Begging your pardon." Johnny tapped the warrior on the shoulder. "But I wasn't quite clear on that last part."

Ardeth ignored him. "If he arrives before us, it will be too late."

"Did you say 'kill' my brother?" Johnny asked.

Viggo smiled. "I know how to beat him to it."

*

Johnny's dented convertible was steaming by the time they passed the sign that read 'His Majesty's Royal Air Corp'. The three men jumped out of the car and hurried over to where Bernard Hill relaxed with his tea and his Victrola under an huge sun umbrella.

"So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corp?" the old pilot asked.

"Not a god-damned thing," Viggo admitted.


	10. Chapter 10

"Is it dangerous?" Bernard looked intrigued.

"You probably won't live through it," Viggo informed him.

"By Jove, do you really think so?" Bernard sounded positively gleeful at the idea.

"Everybody else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" Johnny added.

Bernard nodded. "So what's the challenge then?"

"To save the young man in distress, kill the bad guy and steal his treasure."

"Bernard Hill at your service, sir!" He grinned as he saluted them.

*

Bernard turned and tapped Viggo's shoulder. The American was in the gunner's seat and faced backward. "You see that?" He yelled over the engine and pointed to a huge dust-devil. "I've never seen one that big... ever!"

Viggo leaned down and yelled to Johnny who was tied to the left wing. "Are you all right down there?"

"Do I bloody well look ALL RIGHT?!" Johnny screamed back. He was not happy about the situation; terrified might have been a better description.

Viggo looked to the right wing and at Ardeth Bay. The man was actually smiling. The American was not certain if that was good or bad.

*

The dust-devil slowed and began to dissipate. Orlando and Andy were ejected and landed on a dune with the smaller man sprawled across the young Brit. "Get off me! Get off!" Orlando shoved and slapped at the smaller man as he tried to get out from under him. "Get off!"

He staggered to his feet once the little man finally moved and found that the tablecloth he wore was in near tatters. Orlando rewrapped it to get as much coverage out of the remaining cloth as possible.

"Nice legs," Andy leered. "How 'bout--"

"In your dreams!" Orlando punched the weaselly little man right in the chin. "Ow!" He shook his hand and returned to tying the cloth around his hips. Then he looked around at where they were.

Andy rubbed his sore jaw and shook his head. "I gotta get a new job."

"Oh, my God!" Orlando stared in shock. "We're back." Hamunaptra was less than a mile away from where they stood.

The dust-devil disappeared as Imhotep emerged at the top of the dunes. He stared at the bi-plane that headed for the ruined city.

Orlando followed his line of sight and grinned when he saw the plane as it moved past them. "Viggo!"

Imhotep's eyes narrowed as he watched the plane. He muttered a few ancient phrases and closed his eyes concentrating. His jaw unhinged and his mouth opened to an inhuman size as he released a massive roar. An enormous wall of sand rose from the desert floor and headed directly for the plane.

Since he faced backward, Viggo saw the wall of sand first. "Bernard! Pedal FASTER!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Bernard glimpsed the danger in a rearview mirror in his cockpit. "Hang on, men!" He put the old bi-plane through a series of maneuvers that proved that he had indeed in his day been a flying ace. Unfortunately, Imhotep was not impressed and he moved the wall in upon them.

Viggo saw the creature's giant face inside the sandstorm. It was laughing. He cocked the Lewis machine-gun and fired directly into the face. Imhotep laughed and opened his mouth to engulf the plane.

*

"Stop it!" Orlando screamed at Imhotep. "You'll kill them!"

"That's the idea," Andy muttered to himself.

Finally, in desperation, Orlando grabbed Imhotep's head and pulled him down into a kiss. He pulled the creature around enough so he could look back to where the plane had been. The distraction caused the sandstorm to dissipate. Orlando broke the kiss and grinned when he saw the sand settle.

*

The bi-plane's engine stumbled and sputtered. The sand had already done its damage. "We're going down!" Bernard informed them. "Hang on, boys!"

*

Orlando's expression change to one of horror as the plane's engine billowed dark, black smoke and it angled directly into the dunes. There was a huge crashing thud and a sand cloud was thrown into the air.

*

Viggo unclipped his harness and fell from the plane to the dune a few feet below. He yanked his gunny-sack out of the seat and tossed it off to the side.

"Excuse me." Johnny struggled to loosen the straps that held him securely to the wing. "A little help would be useful." The wing bounced but the straps held. "IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH BLOODY TROUBLE!!"

Viggo went to help Johnny as Ardeth stumbled over to the gunner's compartment and tore the Lewis gun off its mount. He tossed the machine-gun over his shoulder and several cartridge belts over the other and staggered away.

"Bernard?" Viggo and Johnny looked into the cockpit. Bernard Hill appeared to be smiling in his sleep. Viggo touched his neck. There was no pulse.

Suddenly, the plane started to sink into the sand under the feet. "Sink hole!" Ardeth yelled. They quickly move away from the fuselage.

Viggo turned back to salute the airman as the plane disappeared completely from view.

*

Viggo, Johnny and Ardeth finally reached the ruins of the City of the Dead. "Okay, now what the hell does this Horus guy look like?"

"He's a big fellow with pointy ears and a face like a falcon," Johnny told him.

"Got it."

*

Orlando followed Imhotep into the underground cemetery. He paused at the sight of huge hairy rats as they scurried through the mausoleums and over the gravestones.

"Keep moving." Andy shoved his pistol into the young man's back and pushed him forward.

"You know, nasty little fellows such as yourself," Orlando informed the little man, "always get their comeuppance."

"Right." Andy paused and suddenly looked a bit worried. "Really?"

"Oh yes, always," Orlando repeated.

*

Viggo and Ardeth worked quickly to clear the collapsed doorway. Johnny's attention was drawn to a blue-gold scarb embedded on a far wall. He walked over to it and examined it more closely. When he ran his fingers over it, the scarab easily came free. "I say, you should come have a look at this."

He studied the scarab as it glittered in the palm of his hand. Suddenly, it wiggled and the outer-casing split. The beetle instantly burrowed into Johnny's palm. He screamed in fear and pain as the thing burrowed its way up his arm.

Viggo hurried over to him and ripped Johnny's shirt open. The lump could been seen clearly as it neared his shoulder. "Hold him!" Ardeth grabbed the Brit.

"Do something! Do something!"

The American whipped out his butterfly-knife and snapped it open.

"Not that! Not that!" Johnny screamed at sight of the blade.

Viggo ignored him and sliced just in front of the moving lump. The Brit's yells continued as Viggo used the blade to pry the bug out of the tissues. He flipped it across the chamber.

The moment the scarab hit the floor, it scurried back toward Johnny.

Mortensen pulled out his gun and blasted it away.

*

The gunshot echoed through the cemetery as Imhotep, Orlando and Andy stepped up to the strange altar. "Viggo." Orlando could not help but smile.

Imhotep scowled at the sound and angrily reached into a canopic jar. He pulled out the dusty remains of his priests. He muttered an incantation and blew the dust against the mausoleum wall. Two forms emerged from the the murals; horrific mummified corpses. They bowed to Imhotep and he instructed them to wake the others and to kill the other men that dared to enter the sacred City of the Dead.

*

"From now on, don't touch anything." Viggo and Ardeth wrapped Johnny's hand and shoulder. "Not a damn thing. Keep your hands off the furniture, got it?"

Johnny swallowed hard and nodded.

*

Imhotep prepared the altar while he spoke in Hebrew to Andy. Orlando frowned. Hebrew was not a language he was fluent in but he did not like the sounds of what he could make out.

Suddenly, Imhotep grabbed Orlando's wrist and pulled him close. He pointed to the tattered and dirty cloth tied around the young man's hips and said something to Andy.

"Prince Imhotep wants to know why you wear that?"

"Because I--HEY!" The creature ripped the cloth off. "What are you--?" Orlando struggled when Imhotep's hands slid under his shirt. "No!" He tried to shove the creature away. Imhotep just arched an eyebrow and backhanded Orlando. The young man dropped to the floor, out cold.

Imhotep picked him up and secured him to one side of the altar. He then turned and walked farther into the mausoleum. Andy looked around and then scurried off in a different direction.

*

Viggo tossed his gunny-sack through the narrow opening ahead of him. He then tossed his torch to the floor just beyond the sack before he squeezed through. He picked up his stuff and looked around as Ardeth and Johnny followed him in to the chamber. Viggo noticed as a shaft of light, high above them coming from a small hole in the ceiling. He aimed his gun and fired. The mirror tilted and abruptly the light traveled around the chamber from mirror to mirror, brightly illuminating the entire area.

No one said anything as they descended the stairs to the lower level. All around them gold glittered; gold coins, gold trinkets, gold statues. Finally, Johnny found his voice. "Do you see...?"

"Yeah," Viggo nodded.

"Can you believe...?"

"Yeah." There was simply too much gold to really absorb what they saw.

"Can we...?"

"No," Viggo shook his head. They had to find Imhotep or all the gold in the world would not be worth a damned thing if they were all dead. He took a deep breath. They had to find Orlando. They had to.

The rotting corpses of Imhotep's priests marched in from another part of the chamber.

"Who the hell are these guys?"

"Priests. Imhotep's priests." Ardeth cocked the Lewis.

"I never killed a priest before," Viggo commented as he pulled his shotgun from his gunny-sack.

"They are evil, cursed, they matter not."

"Well, okay then." Viggo fired his shotgun into the mummies. Behind them three more mummies clawed their way up from under the floor.

Johnny grabbed two of Viggo's pistols and fired them at the latest mummies. Ardeth used the machine gun to blast away at the mummified priests as even more arrived.

*

Andy crept into the treasure chamber and stared in wonder at the wealth that filled the room. He grinned and fell back to roll in the gold and jewels.

*

Orlando moaned as he woke. His head hurt and his jaw ached. He blinked to clear his vision and saw a huge rat crawling across his abdomen. He screamed and tried to sit up. His wrists and ankles were bound to the altar. He arched up finally shook the vermin off. He turned to look directly into the rotted face of Anck-su-namum's corpse. He screamed.

*

Viggo fired behind them and took out several mummies with each shot. Unfortunately more and more appeared. Ardeth took a turn and fired behind them while Viggo reloaded his shotgun and Johnny tried to get fresh bullets into the pistols he held.

Abruptly, they stumbled into a large chamber. The lower half of the giant statue of Horus stood in the centre. "There he is!" Johnny proclaimed. "Hello, Horus, old boy."

Viggo pulled a stick of dynamite and a match from his sack. Ardeth tapped him on the shoulder. "Allow me."

Viggo handed him the dynamite and the match and Ardeth reached over and struck the match against Viggo's stubbly face. The American yelped as Ardeth lit the dynamite and threw it down the passageway. They hit the deck as it exploded. The mummies were ripped apart and the passageway was blocked by the resulting cave-in.

*

Chained tight to the top of the altar, Orlando hopelessly struggled to free himself. He stopped as priest mummies surrounded the altar. The hideous mummies knelt down and chanted. Imhotep stepped up with the ebony Book of the Dead. He lovingly caressed Anck-su-namum's decayed cheek.

*

Viggo and Johnny struggled to pry open the seams of the secret compartment. Ardeth kept watch over the remaining passageway and fired periodically at the mummies advancing toward them.

"These guys just don't quit," Viggo grunted as he continued to struggle with the sealed compartment.

"Keep digging!" Ardeth moved down the passageway with the machine gun.

The compartment finally started to loosen. Suddenly a skeletal hand broke through the floor of the chamber and grabbed Viggo's ankle. More moldy hands burst through the ground. One mummy shoved Mortensen against the far way. Another grabbed Johnny by the throat and started to strangle him. The third mummy grabbed at the secret compartment and pulled hard.

An intense burst of acid sprayed out and hit all three mummies. The one that attempted to strangle Johnny got hit in the back and dropped him. All three mummies melted horribly.

*

Imhotep used the puzzle box and opened the book. He began to read the inscriptions. A large swirling hole opened in the detritus bog. Orlando gasped in horror and amazement.

*

Ardeth continued to blast away at the oncoming mummies as Viggo and Johnny pulled an ornate chest out of the compartment. Viggo ripped the lid off and reached inside and pulled out a heavy burlap bag. He and Johnny exchanged nervous looks. Then he pulled out the solid gold Book of the Living.

The machine gun went silent as the Medjai used the last of the ammunition. "Save the boy." He pulled his scimitar and waded into the remaining mummies swinging. "Kill the creature!"

Viggo lit the last stick of dynamite from his sack and threw it against the far wall. It collapsed the passageway Ardeth had disappeared into and opened a hole in the wall.

*

Andy staggered across the sand with a saddlebag filled with gold. He threw it over the rear of a stray camel. He started to climb up, but hesitated. He looked back at the temple door and licked his lips. He quickly climbed down and hurried back into the temple.

*

Imhotep read from the black book as his priests rocked back and forth and chanted. Orlando continued to struggle, though the most he had accomplished was chafing his wrists and ankles raw. He froze when he saw a strange mist rise from the fetid detritus bog. It passed through the sacred jars and into Orlando. He jerked as if he had been electrified. The mist moved onward to Anck-su-namum's body, settling in.

Orlando gasped, his breath wheezed as he turned to look beside him. Anck-su-namun's rotted head turned and looked at Orlando with empty sockets. He struggled wildly as panic overtook him. He turned away only to see Imhotep beside him holding an ancient sacrificial knife.

"With your death, my love and I will be invincible!" the creature spoke to him in Ancient Egyptian. He raised the knife high over the young Brit's chest ready to plunge it in.

"The Book of Amun-Ra! I found it, Orli! I found it!"

Imhotep spun around and saw Johnny with the golden Book of the Living and a huge grin on his face. The American was right behind him.

"Shut-up!" Orlando yelled as he continued to struggle. "And get me off of here, Johnny!"

Viggo grabbed an ancient sword out of a statue's hand, jumped the bog and leaped over the mummified priests. Imhotep turned to watch the American and bellowed a command and suddenly the priests stood up brandishing swords and knives as they advanced on the American.

"Open the book, Johnny!" Orlando yelled. "It's the only way to kill him! You have to open the book and find the inscription!"

Viggo was impressive as he fought his way toward the altar. He swung and slashed, leapt and kicked his way through the mummies. Johnny fumbled as he tried to open the book. It would not open.

"Well, I can't open it!" Johnny yelled back. "It's locked or something! We need the key, Orli!"

Viggo cut two mummies in half. He knocked the head off another mummy.

"It's inside his robes!" Orlando yelled to his brother.

Viggo turned and swung at the altar. CLANG! One wrist binding was broken.

"Im yub set nah!" Imhotep grinned as more mummies joined in on the attack on the American. He headed toward Johnny.

"Here's an inscription." Johnny dodged behind a pillar. "Rasheem... Rasheem oola... Rasheem ola Kashka!"


	11. Chapter 11

Viggo swung his sword again. CLANG! Orlando now had one leg free as well. More mummies moved in to attack.

From another entrance more mummies march in. They were warriors wielding their shields, swords and spears.

Viggo broke the last chain and helped Orlando to his feet. They looked up and saw the warrior mummies marching toward them. "Oh, yeah! This just keeps gettin' better and better."

"Do something, Johnny!" Orlando prompted his brother.

"Me?"

"You can command them."

"You have got to be joking," Johnny yelled back.

"Finish the inscription on the cover, Idiot!" Orlando shook his head. "Then you can control them."

"Oh, right." Johnny ducked down another small passageway.

The warrior mummies lined up to attack Viggo. Behind him, Orlando yelped when Anck-su-namu's partially reincarnated body suddenly attacked him. The mummies leapt over the detritus bog with their weapons raised to strike. Viggo roared at them. They roared back, their jaws unhinged.

"Uh-uh." He turned and ran over another section of the bog.

"Hurry up, Johnny!" Orlando ran through a narrow corridor, Anck-su-namun behind him with the sacrificial knife.

Viggo grabbed a rope and swung up on to the second level. Moments later he was chased down the stairs by more warrior mummies.

"I can't figure out this last symbol," Johnny called out.

"What does it look like?"

"It's, uh, a bird... a stork!"

Viggo grabbed a torch and set several of the mummies on fire.

Anck-su-namum cornered Orlando and grabbed his throat. Orlando gasped for air as he tried to hold off the knife she fought to plunge into him. "A-Ahmenophus!"

"Oh, yes, I see." Johnny looked at the inscription again.

The mummies knocked Viggo's sword from his hands and he tumbled backward down the stairs.

"Oh Hootash im Ahmenophus!" Johnny recited.

Viggo closed his eyes as the swords descended upon him. But nothing happened. He opened them to see the mummies pull their weapons away from him and step back.

"Im yub set nah! Im yub set nah!" Imhotep ordered but the mummies did not react. "Im yub set nah!"

"Fa-Kooshka Anck-su-namum!" Johnny ordered.

The warrior mummies turned and zeroed in on Anck-su-namum.

"Imhotep!" she screamed her lover's name as the mummies attacked and destroyed her body.

"Anck-su-namum!" Imhotep watched in horror as once again his lover was taken from him. He screamed in rage. "Ah rhut tay!" he demanded Johnny give him the golden book. The Brit dropped it as he backed away. "Fa-tooh tay!"

Even though Johnny was not fluent in Ancient Egyptian, he needed no translation. Imhotep intended to kill him. He backed away until he was pressed against a wall. The creature grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground.

Viggo leaped in and sliced the creature's right arm off. Johnny dropped to the ground and Imhotep's arm was right next to him. The creature grabbed Viggo with his remaining arm and tossed the man twenty feet. The American bounced off a column. Imhotep reattached his arm and then pursued Viggo.

"Orli, I got it!" Johnny stood proudly holding the puzzle box that he had taken from the creature's robes. He grabbed the golden book and hurried over to his brother. Orlando grabbed the box and clicked it open and while Johnny held the Book of Amun-Ra.

"Keep him busy!" Orlando yelled to the American as he turned the key. The lock released and he opened the gold pages.

Imhotep enjoyed his revenge. He tossed Viggo against columns, against statues and half-way across the chamber. He calmly followed his prey after each attack. The American staggered to his feet only to be swatted like an insect. Finally, after being bounced off the altar Viggo landed hard and only managed to get to his knees before the creature's hand was on his throat. He was lifted from the floor.

"Hurry, Orli! Hurry!" Even at their distance, Johnny could see Viggo turning blue as Imhotep slowly strangled him.

"You're not helping," Orlando muttered as he turned another page and skimmed the symbols.

Imhotep roared, but Viggo barely heard it. About all he could hear at the moment was the roaring of the blood in his ears as his oxygen supply ran low. His vision wavered as blackness crept in along the edges.

"OH!" Orlando gasped in relief. "I've got it!" Knowing he had no time to spare for mistakes, he paused one second longer to verify the inscription. "Kadeesh mal. Kadeesh mal. Pared oos. Pared oos!"

Imhotep paused and turned to stare at the brothers near the altar with the golden book. A fierce wind whipped through the cavern and a moment later a blue spirit chariot roared through and passed right through the creature. Imhotep cringed and unceremoniously dropped Viggo. The creature reached towards the chariot as it retraced its entrance with the spirit of Imhotep!

Viggo stumbled toward the altar and rubbed his throat as he retrieved the gold sword he had used. Imhotep stood in shock on the stairway looking where he had last seen the spirit chariot. Finally, he turned and growled. His eyes flashed with anger as he marched down the steps to finish his work on the American.

"I thought you said it was going to kill him!" Viggo backed up and kept between Imhotep and Orlando. He lifted the sword as Imhotep reached for him and he plunged it right through the creature's stomach.

Imhotep gasped in pain and stopped. Viggo blinked in surprise and pulled the sword out.

"He's mortal," Orlando confirmed.

Imhotep pressed his hands over the wound as he stepped back into the detritus bog. Viggo, Orlando and Johnny watched as the creature dissolved before their eyes. It spoke one last time before disappearing from view.

"Death is only the beginning," Orlando translated.

*

Andy staggered across a chamber, straining under the weight of another saddlebag filled with treasure. Exhausted, he spotted a large, ornate staff extending out of a wall. He set the saddlebag on the convenient holder and collapsed against the wall as he panted.

Suddenly the staff tilted down and the saddlebag fell to the floor. A deep rumbling could be heard and sand started to poor into the chamber. Andy leapt to his feet.

*

The ceremonial chamber started to shake and walls began to descend.

"Time to go!" Viggo grabbed Orlando's hand and pulled him toward the steps. Johnny stumbled as he followed and the Book of Amun-Ra slipped from his hands and skittered into the fetid detritus bog. He got to his feet and ran to the steps.

"You lost the book!" Orlando raced back to the edge of the bog. "Johnny, I can't believe--"

Viggo and Johnny each grabbed an arm and yanked the younger man with them. "Come ON!"

*

Andy continued to struggle as he dragged the bag filled with gold with him as sand piled higher in the tunnel. Suddenly, he realized the doorway in front of him was closing too quickly. He abandoned the bag and barely managed to clear the descending door as it sealed the passageway.

*

The ground shook even worse when they reached the huge treasure chamber. Orlando glanced around; he had not seen this room on the way in. But his wrist was firmly in Viggo's grasp and he did his best to keep up with the American.

Johnny stumbled to a stop. He spun around and looked at the gold and jewels. Orlando and Viggo raced back and each took an arm. "Couldn't we just--" He was cut off as they yanked him toward the entry stairs.

"No, Johnny!" Orlando yelled. He stumbled on the stairs and would have fallen but Viggo grabbed his arm.

An enormous slab of stone was descending to seal the entrance to the treasure chamber. Viggo, Orlando and Johnny had to crouch down to pass under it. Just as they cleared the doorway, Viggo heard someone yell behind them.

"Mortensen! Mortensen! Wait!" Andy appeared at the top of the steps and scurried toward them.

"Come on! Come on!" Viggo motioned the little man to hurry.

"Wait! Please!" Andy crawled on his hands and knees to the door.

"Come on! Come on, Andy!" Viggo reached out to grab the little man's hand.

But it was to late, Viggo quickly pulled his hand back as the doorway sealed before Andy could reach it.

"Good bye, Andy," Viggo whispered and he followed Orlando and Johnny to the exit.

*

Andy sobbed but turned quickly to scurry back into the main chamber. He would be crushed if he stayed by the doorway. He barely made it into the main chamber before the huge stone slab settled. Andy turned to run for another exit, but in turn each exit was sealed by the descending walls.

The shattering of glass drew his attention up; the ceiling had dropped several yards, destroying the light mirrors. His light source was the flickering torch in his hand. Andy looked around. There had to be another way out. There *had* to be.

Suddenly, he heard a chittering sound. His eyes widened as he turned to see a scarab appear out of the piles of treasure. "Go away!" He waved his torch at the deadly insect. "Shoosh ma! Shoosh ma!"

More chittering behind him and he whirled to see a growing mass of scarabs moving toward him. "Ah! Shoosh ma! Shoosh ma!" They surrounded him. His torch flickered and quickly burned out. "Shoosh ma! Get away!... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

*

They raced out into the blinding sun, but it was not safe to stop. The entire ruined city was shaking. The few remaining building collapsed as the ground shook. Sink holes appeared swallowing columns and temples.

"Look out!" Viggo pulled Orlando to one side as walls and statues toppled. "Look out!" They ran. The stray and abandoned camels fled the city as well. The very ground beneath their feet seemed about to disintegrate as the sand seemed to pull them backward.

Finally, nearly a mile from the edges of the extinct volcano they staggered to a stop. Camels milled around, some still carried saddles and supplies. Viggo, Orlando and Johnny panted as they turned to stare at the destruction of Hamunaptra. Sand and dust billowed high into the desert sky as the last of the city disappeared beneath the sands.

They were still getting their breath back when a hand touched Johnny's shoulder. "AHHHHHHH!!!" He yelped and Orlando staggered against Viggo.

Ardeth Bay smiled at them. His hand and wrist were wrapped in a ragged bandage. His face was scraped and bruised, but somehow he had survived his confrontation with the mummies.

"OH!" Johnny held a hand to his heart. "Thank you! Thank you very much."

"You've earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." Ardeth bowed his head before mounting a camel.

"Yes, well, it was nothing," Johnny replied.

"May Allah smile upon you always." The Medjai leader touched his forehead and his mouth in a gesture of respect.

"And... yourself." Johnny waved. "Yes, any time." Ardeth smiled and directed his camel out into the desert.

"Stay out of trouble," Viggo called after him.

"He's just leaving us here," Johnny sounded disgusted. "Well, I guess we go home empty-handed... again."

"I wouldn't say that." Viggo looked down at Orlando. The younger man smiled and leaned close. The kiss was sweet and lingering.

"Oh, please." Johnny rolled his eyes. He turned to the nearest camel and pulled its head close. "How 'bout you, darling? Would you like a little kissy-wissy?" The camel opened its mouth and grunted at him. "Whoo! Ohh!" He waved a hand to clear the air.

*

It took some time for them to sort things out. First, their wounds needed to cleaned and wrapped. Fortunately, among the supplies abandoned on the camels they found some relatively clean scraps of cloth. There was no water left in any of the bags, but they did find a small bottle of whiskey. Johnny was all for drinking it, but Viggo insisted they use it to clean their multitude of scrapes, cuts and lacerations first. Johnny grumbled when there was little more than a swallow left when they were done.

"Orli," Johnny shook his head when he got a good look at his little brother's state of undress. "Can't you keep your clothes on? I mean what happened to the skir... er tablecloth?"

"It's not my fault!" Orlando stomped over to his brother. "That-that-that *thing* ripped it off and then it-he-it groped me!" He shivered despite the heat of the sun. Viggo moved close and Orlando turned to him. "And when I tried to fight him, the next thing I knew I was chained to that damned altar with a raging headache, a rat crawling on me and a rotting corpse lying next to me!" He drew a ragged breath in an attempt to calm down. "I...."

"Orli, it's all right," Viggo assured the younger man as he glared over at the older brother. "It's over." He glanced around at the camels still wandering near. "We'll find you something to wear."

No clothing was to be found among the bags, but when Orlando peeked inside the saddle bag on the camel Viggo had claimed for riding he nearly fell over. "Vih-Viggo!" Viggo and Johnny rushed over.

Trinkets, coins and jewels filled the bag and sparkled in the desert sunlight. "Good lord...." Johnny touched a short decorative gold staff as if to make certain it not a mirage.

Viggo looked at the bag and its contents and suddenly realized where it had come from. "Thanks, Andy," he whispered.

When they finally set off for the nearest trading post, Johnny was content to smile and stare at the golden staff he had claimed as he and his camel bumped along. They had found two nearly full wineskins on the last camel they searched. Fortunately the wine was still drinkable, so they had something to drink while riding for the nearest trading post.

Orlando rode in front of Viggo on another camel with a third camel that carried the heavy bag of treasure was tethered to their camel which followed docilely. After an hour, Viggo glanced back and found to his amusement several more of the stray camels had tagged along. He grinned; they would have plenty to trade with at the Bedouin camp.

At first Orlando had been quite animated as he discussed what they should do with the treasure from Hamunaptra once they reached Cairo. He thought it should catalogued and donated to the Museum of Antiquities for further study. "Though I don't know who will be in charge now." Orlando blinked hard as he realized the curator would no longer be there. "...Well, maybe the new curator will be able to get the Board of Directors to agree to updating things. Instead of just repairing displays, maybe find ways to make them more interesting and useful for research." Orlando yawned. "...hmmm... Maybe they'll let me do some real work...." The events of the past few days caught up with him and Orlando dropped off to sleep almost in mid-sentence. Viggo smiled and shook his head as they continued their trek.

They rode through the rest of the day and night and arrived at the trading post about mid-morning. They traded the extra camels, which numbered eleven by the time they reach the camp, for supplies and clothing for Orlando.

Viggo had really not known what to expect when they reached Fort Brydon. Cairo was still in the grip of bedlam and confusion even as word spread that disaster had been averted. There was much clean up, repair and reorganization to be done in the weeks ahead. He hardly saw Johnny or Orlando as the days passed.

Orlando had taken his portion of the treasure directly to the museum and had walked into chaos. Without hesitation, the young man had stepped in. He gave orders and instructions and set about reorganizing and repairing the museum he had come to love. Amazingly, no one questioned him; no one worried about his youth or whether he should be in charge. His new found confidence grounded him; his obvious intelligence brought him the respect he deserved.

Even the Board of Directors supported him and within ten days, he was given the title of Interim Curator which would be made permanent after six months if the Board was pleased with his work and if Orlando decided he wanted the position permanently. And he threw himself into the work. There was an amazing amount of detail to keep track of from everyday expenses to the costs of repairs along with the restoration of lost or damaged artifacts and displays. He hardly noticed when Johnny disappeared for days at a time with his old mates.

Quite often Orlando would fall asleep in his new office as he poured over paperwork. On one occasion, he had woken suddenly when the door to his office closed. He frowned as he rubbed his eyes then spotted a basket on the corner of his desk. His rumbling stomach had been grateful when he found several sandwiches, a bottle of wine and glasses tucked inside. He counted himself lucky that his brother always took such good care of him.

*

Viggo was restless. He knew that he had fallen for Orlando the first time he laid eyes on the Brit. And he had thought that the feelings were returned by the shy young man. They shared a special bond deepened by surviving the dangers of Hamunaptra. They had also shared a handful of sweet kisses on the way back to Cairo.

But once back in the city, back to civilization as it were, Orlando all but disappeared from his life. One evening, he had been determined to have dinner with the young man. He had secured a picnic basket with a simple meal of sandwiches and wine and taken it to the museum. But when he reached the curator's office he found Orlando sound asleep at his desk.

Viggo could see the dark circles that marred the beautiful young man's face. He knew Orlando was pushing too hard. He was too excited and too caught up in repairs and proving himself to pace himself properly. And perhaps he was too young to be in love with a mercenary who had seen a bit too much violence and battle. So he had left the food on the corner of the desk and returned to his rooms at the fort. He polished off a half bottle of brandy before he fell into bed.

Ten days later, he made final arrangements for passage out of Cairo. It seemed it was time to move on. The ship he booked passage on was headed for England but by a circuitous route that would allow him to check out a few exotic locales on the way. There was nothing specific for him in Great Britain so if he wanted he could simply stay anywhere that interested him.

*

The words started to blur as he felt the first indications of a sneeze. His eyes had been watering and he had been sneezing all morning. The workmen had stirred up an incredible amount of dust down the hall as they cleared out an old storage area that was to be converted into a proper cataloging facility. "AAHHCCHHOOO!" He barely got his handkerchief up in time.


	12. Chapter 12

"God bless you."

"Uh-thank you." Orlando smiled when he saw Viggo in the office doorway. "Viggo, come in." He hurried around the desk. "Seems like we're always just missing one another." Viggo held out his hand to shake, but Orlando stepped past it and gave him a hug. "I've missed you." He grinned at the American.

"Yeah," Viggo smiled back, "same here." He glanced around the office. "Pretty fancy office ya got. They're lucky to have you workin' for 'em." He saw Orlando's face light up at the compliment.

"Well, I don't know about them being lucky." The younger man shrugged. "There aren't too many people my age that get this sort of opportunity." He smiled again.

"Well," Viggo began, "I don't want to keep you from your work. I know you're busy and all." Dammit, why was he delaying this?

"You're not interrupting anything important," Orlando assured him. "I'm glad that you're here."

"I just wanted to say good-bye."

"Good-bye?" Orlando frowned. "What? Why?"

"Well, I'm booked on the Lady Catherine. She's departing this afternoon," Viggo told him.

"For where? For how long?" Orlando did not want Viggo to leave. He had hoped if he could get things under control in the museum in the next few weeks that they might spend some time together. He missed being around the American.

"For England and...." Viggo shrugged. "...I don't know how long I'll be there. There's not much need for me here at the moment so I figured I check out somewhere I've never been...."

"Oh." Orlando did not know what to say. No need for him to be in Cairo? Did that mean that Viggo did not feel anything for him? "I--"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Bloom." A harried looking man in dust covered work clothes appeared in the doorway. "But we've got a problem and--"

"You'd better go check that out then." Viggo gave Orlando one last quick hug and ducked out the door.

*

Johnny was in fine spirits when he arrived back in Cairo. He had actually managed to make himself useful on a small dig in the Valley of the Kings. Nothing of great value had been found, but he had had fun doing it. After Hamunaptra, he found he actually enjoyed a slightly less than exciting expedition. Besides it had gotten him in good with the sponsors of the dig, meaning if he wanted he could count himself in on future digs.

Now he was back in the city and after spending a few hours with his baby brother, and borrowing a bit of cash, he planned to spend he evening with a few friends. His first stop was at the museum, but he discovered Orlando had left shortly before noon, sneezing and wheezing after some renovations had stirred up the dust in the entire museum.

Johnny expected to find his brother in his rooms at the fort and probably sleeping. The last time he had seen Orlando the boy had been pushing himself too hard trying to be the perfect curator for that old museum. Instead when he approached the door, he heard something crash against it from inside the room and he hurried in without knocking.

"Orli--?" He ducked when a slipper flew out of the bedroom and nearly tripped when Snowball streaked past and escaped out the door. "What the--!" He moved to the side as the other slipper flew past.

"...bloody Yanks!... damned bloody adventurers!..." He carefully peered around the doorway to see his baby brother stomping back and forth cursing. "...No need for him HERE?! Bloody stupid git!...."

"Orli?"

"Ahh!" Orlando whirled around breathing hard. He sighed when he saw who it was. "Bloody hell, Johnny! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Don't you know how to knock?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Johnny gave him a look. "But just as I was about to knock something crashed against the door and I thought something might just be wrong. I opened the door and almost had my head taken off by a bloody slipper."

"Oh." Orlando looked faintly sheepish. "Sorry." He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed and looked depressed.

"So," Johnny sat next to his little brother, "you going to tell me what this is all about?" Orlando did not look at him. "Did something happen at the museum? Are they treating you okay?"

"Nothing's wrong at the museum," Orlando assured him. "Well, nothing that two of me couldn't handle a bit better... probably." He rubbed his face.

"Orli," Johnny turned his little brother so they were face to face, "you do not need to overwork yourself like this. You've got that place humming along at an amazing rate. You're bloody brilliant. *They* are lucky to have you!" Orlando stared at him for a long moment then finally gave a sort of shrugging nod. "So what got you launching dangerous slippers today?"

Orlando sighed and looked down at his hands. "He's leaving.... He's left."

"Who?" Johnny frowned and then realized there was only one 'he' that could get Orlando this upset. "Viggo?" Orlando nodded. "Why?"

"He said there wasn't much need for him here. That he was going to someplace he'd never been before.... That...." Orlando looked up into his brother's eyes. "I thought he liked me, you know? I like him, well I more than like him, you know? And I thought, I hoped he felt the same way, you know? I thought if I could get things under control at the museum in the next few weeks that he and I, that we could spend some time together, you know? And then today, this morning he drops by and tells me he's going, he's leaving and he just wanted to say good-bye and there was no need for him to be here and his ship's leaving this afternoon, probably right now and then he was gone before I could say anything! And what am I supposed to do, Johnny?" Orlando's eyes were bright with tears. "What am I supposed to do?"

Johnny pulled his younger brother in to a tight hug. "Orli, for such a brilliant man, you can be a complete git!" Orlando tensed in his arms and pulled back.

"What?"

"Of course Viggo thinks there no reason for him to be here!" Johnny shook the thin shoulders. "You've spent more time in that damned museum than anywhere else since we got back from Hamanuptra. Even allowing for the fact that things were a bit crazy at the start, you've been all but living in that bloody place. I hardly see you and I bet you haven't see Viggo for more than a quick wave in weeks. You've given him no sign since we got back that you want to be anywhere near him." Johnny was amazed at how naive, how dense his little brother could be. "Bet you didn't tell him how you felt this morning when he stopped to say good-bye, right?"

"No, but... how do I know that he even cares?"

"Now who's being an idiot?" Johnny shook his head. "Of course, that man loves you! You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see it." He looked hard into his brother's eyes. "That man risked life and limb to save you many times over, remember?" Orlando nodded slowly and a look of realization lit his eyes. "So you need to at least tell him how you feel before he leaves."

"But his ship's probably gone already."

Johnny glanced at the mantel clock which read 1:45. "You don't know that. Most of the larger ships depart after three." He stood and pulled Orlando to his feet. "Come on!" He kept a grip on his younger brother as he hurried out of the rooms. "If we leave right now, you might just catch him before he boards." They hurried down the stairs to the car park.

*

Of course, traffic had been horrendous; donkey carts, camels, rickety old cars moving at a snail's pace and they had been forced to take a couple of detours on the way to the docks. Then there was so much activity there was no place to leave the car. "Orli, you need to hop out here. I can't get any closer." Johnny pointed off to the far right. "The larger ships are usually berth down there." He stopped the convertible long enough for Orlando to climb out.

"Thanks, Johnny." Orlando looked back at him.

"Hurry, Orli! And good luck!"

*

Orlando threaded his way through the crowded docks. Carts and trucks moved cargo. Porters handled luggage as passengers streamed up gangways.

"Excuse me!"

The man looked up from the dock log book he scribbled in. "Yes?"

"The Lady Catherine? Where's she docked?"

The man glanced at his book. "Three docks that way." He pointed.

"Thanks!" Orlando hurried in the direction indicated.

"Yer welcome, but it should have departed twenty minutes...." The man shook his head since the young man could no longer hear him.

*

Orlando dodged a porter pushing two steamer trunks stacked on each other. He stepped around a donkey cart and straight into a pile of fresh dung. "Oh, bloody hell!" He pulled his foot out of the mess only to find that his shoe still mired in the muck. Shaking his head, he kicked off the other shoe and continued on in his socks. His heart sank when he got a clear view of the long dock. There was no ship to be seen.

"No...." He could still see the ship as it headed toward the horizon. A hand tapped his shoulder. Orlando whirled and struck out instinctively. His fist connected with a hard shoulder.

"Hey!" Orlando stumbled backward and would have fallen except that Viggo grabbed his arm. "Whoa! Steady there."

"Vih-Viggo?" His brain seemed unable to process what was happening. "Wha-what? What are you doing heh-here?" Orlando shook his head trying to gather his wits. "Shouldn't you be...?" He nodded toward the swiftly disappearing ship.

"Yeah," Viggo nodded, "seems I missed my ship." The American looked at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you.... I mean I needed to tell you something and I almost didn't come but Johnny insisted and we got here and he dropped me off and I couldn't seem to find the right dock and then I asked for directions and then I got to the dock and it was gone already and...." Orlando swallowed and took a deep breath. "You're really here? You didn't leave?" He grinned suddenly. "I love you!" He jumped up and wrapped his arms around Viggo's neck and kissed him. He kissed him hard.

For a long moment, Viggo did not respond. Then he wrapped his arms around the young Brit and pulled him tightly against him. He opened his lips and used his tongue to caress Orlando's as it danced around his lips and teeth. The need for air finally forced an end to the kiss. Viggo smiled broadly at the young man in his arms. "I love you too."

Orlando's smile was radiant and Viggo thought he had never looked more gorgeous. They stared at one another for a long, long moment. No words needed to spoken right then.

"I'm glad you missed your ship," Orlando whispered. "I didn't want you to go."

"I didn't want to go," Viggo began, "but.... Well, I didn't think... well, that you...." Slim fingers touched his lips and stopped him from speaking.

"I know. It's my fault." Orlando's fingers touched his cheek. "I got too involved with the museum. I thought you knew how I felt and that once I got things running smoothly that we might spend some time together then...." The young man's brown eyes studied him. "I... I'm sorry I let it get so out of hand.... I love you, Viggo Mortensen...."

"And I love you, Orlando Bloom." Viggo grinned and hugged the young man hard enough to lift his feet off the dock for a moment. He glanced around them. Most of the people around them were too busy to notice, but a few stares were directed their way. "Maybe we oughta get out of here." Orlando looked around then nodded.

They slowly wove their way through the crowds and the stacks of cargo. Viggo held tightly to Orlando's hand as if afraid to let go and Orlando was content to follow along in the older man's wake. The American barely managed to dodge a man with a duffle bag that barreled past.

"Ah, bloody hell!" He lost his hold on Orlando's hand and turned quickly to find the Brit leaning against a crate and pulling a dirty sock off his shoeless foot. Viggo frowned.

"What's wrong?" Viggo asked.

"Dammit," Orlando muttered as he gingerly touched his little toe. "Ow...." He grimaced.

"Where are your shoes, Orli?"

Orlando sighed. "I stepped in something and sorta lost them when I was running to the dock.... Hey." He should not have been surprised when Viggo crouched down for a better look at his foot.

"So what did this?" Viggo's hands were gentle as he turned Orlando's foot to the side for a better view.

"I jammed it on the corner of this crate." Orlando looked embarrassed. "Ah...." He grimaced when Viggo touched the angry red toe.

"I think it may be broken." Viggo looked up at the younger man. "But I need to make certain that it's properly set. This it'll hurt a bit." Orlando nodded and bit his lip. Viggo carefully maneuvered the toe then nodded. "It's broken, but it's set okay for the moment." The toe had started to swell already.

"Okay. Thanks...."

"You're welcome." Viggo stood up and Orlando gave him a weak smile. With a sly grin, he scooped Orlando up in his arms.

"Hey!" Orlando protested. "What do you think you are doing?"

"You should stay off of it as much as possible for a few days at least; keep it elevated." Sound advice except that Viggo had a huge grin on his face since he knew that Orlando was embarrassed.

"Put me down." The young man's face was flushed. "I can walk."

"Just relax and enjoy the ride." Viggo moved carefully through the crowds. "Now, you said Johnny's here with his car? Or maybe we should get a taxi back to the fort?"

Viggo looked around and caught a glimpse of Johnny's new convertible. It was virtually identical to his old one except that it was silver instead of yellow. A moment later he saw Johnny waving to them.

"What in heaven's name?" Johnny met them several yards from the car. "Orli? Is he all right?"

"I'm fine." "He's okay."

"Really?" Johnny arched an eyebrow. "Then why are you carrying him?" He frowned. "And what the hell happened to your shoes, Orli?"

"Long story...." Orlando began.

"He broke his toe," Viggo explained.

"Orli!"

*

The sheets were exquisitely smooth and cool against his skin as he carefully climbed onto the bed. He settled against the pillows and pulled the top sheet up. It felt strange... being in bed... naked... waiting.

Voices and laughter drifted in on the dusk breeze from the terrace below. The party was still going strong. Yet he was... waiting.

Orlando licked his lips and nervously tweaked the sheet to tug it a bit higher. Intellectually, he knew there was no reason to be nervous or worried. He had read books that thoroughly explained what he should expect. Even Johnny had offered a few words of advice that had mainly boiled down to relax, take it slow and remember that Viggo loved him completely.

But still he was nervous. He worried that Viggo would be disgusted or become annoyed because he was still a virgin. He felt stupid and inadequate and was disgusted with himself because he had not even been kissed before Viggo had kissed him in the prison courtyard.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to release some of the nervous tension. The door click and he opened his eyes to see Viggo looking at him and smiling. He sat up and pulled the sheet up to his chest. Orlando smiled as he drank in the sight of the American looking quite dashing in his tux.

Viggo hardly broke eye contact as he quickly divested himself of his clothing. "Oh." Orlando gasped when his eyes were drawn to Viggo's groin. "Umm... that's... you're quite... large...." he mumbled then blushed furiously. He closed his eyes and wanted to crawl under the covers. Viggo already knew he was a virgin; did he have to sound like a stupid git as well?

The mattress dipped and a hand tilted his chin. Orlando looked directly up into Viggo's beautiful ice-blue eyes and forgot for just a moment he was embarrassed. "It's all right." There was no derision, no disgust or condescension to be found in those eyes. "Just relax." Viggo leaned in and they kissed.

Orlando forgot his nervousness as they kissed. Kissing was good. Kissing he had done before. He lost himself in the taste of Viggo's mouth. The spices from the meal, sweet mint from the cake frosting and hint of alcohol from the champagne all enhanced the man's own unique taste. Oh, Orli thought he could get drunk just on the taste of him.

He threaded his fingers through Viggo's soft sandy-blond locks and held him close. Light fingertips traced his temple, then cheek. He loved it when Viggo touched him. It stirred feelings he had never experienced before, had never known existed. The light touch along the edges of his ear caused him to shiver; the feeling spread through his entire being. His nipples hardened; his cock stirred to life. His toes curled.

Viggo's hand slid down the length of his throat. He thought he heard someone moan. Was that him? Orlando was breathing hard when the kiss ended.

"I love you, Orli." Viggo smiled down at him and licked his lips. "You're so beautiful...." They kissed again as Orlando slid his hand across the expanse of Viggo's back. He could feel the powerful muscles move beneath the warm skin. He savored the strength of the man above him, the strength not just of body but also of heart and soul.

Viggo's hand was on his bare hip and Orlando tensed involuntarily. He closed his eyes, embarrassed. He did not want to; he tried not to, but....

"Orli?" He felt so stupid once again. "Orli, look me. Please?" He opened his eyes and saw Viggo looking at him, concerned. "Everything will be fine. We'll just take it as slow as you need. All right?"

Orlando nodded finally. "The book said...." He swallowed. "Will it... will it hurt?"

Viggo shifted so he was lying beside the younger man. He gently caressed the smooth cheek. "If we take it slow and you're relaxed, it will be fine." Orlando leaned into Viggo's hand. "A little discomfort at the most, but I promise it'll be wonderful." Viggo kissed him lightly on the mouth. "You trust me, right?"

"With my life." Orlando nodded. "With my heart." Viggo smiled softly then leaned in to nibble at the younger man's lower lip. Orlando lost himself in the sensation of warm lips that teased him and warm hands that explored his body.

"OH!" he gasped when Viggo's hand stroked the length of his cock. Strong, skillful fingers explored the length of him and sent shivers through him that caused his cock to harden almost painfully. "OH GOD!" he yelled when fingers teased the wet tip, spreading the pre-ejaculate. He had touched himself before, but it had never felt so good, so very right. "GHAAH!" His hips shifted and twisted to encourage more contact.

Viggo's hand stroked him hard then ghosted lightly over him. Orlando arched upward as he cried out incoherently. When a warm mouth latched onto an oversensitized nipple, the younger man screamed his pleasure. Seconds later, he felt the pressure build and he climaxed as Viggo's hand still stroked him and an insistent mouth sucked hard at his nipple.

Viggo finally pulled his mouth away from Orlando's chest and enjoyed the vision of the young man as he orgasmed.


	13. Chapter 13

The sound of heavy steps in the hall intruded. "-rli! Are you all right?!" The door opened with a bang. "Orl-ohh!" Viggo turned his head and saw a very red-faced Johnny staring at them. "Um-uh... Oops! Sorry 'bout that!" Johnny turned to leave and bounced hard off the doorjam. "Ah!" A half-second later the door slammed shut, though Viggo was certain he heard cursing in the hall.

Viggo snickered. He could not help it. The snicker became a chuckle. It was just too funny. The chuckle became a full-belly laugh.

"...err... what's so funny?" Orlando mumbled, looking confused and little hurt.

"Your brother." Viggo leaned in and kissed the younger man.

"What about him?"

"Well, you, Luv, were a bit loud." Viggo decided Orlando looked thoroughly debauched, lips reddened and swollen from kissing, his nipples still hard and darkened from being sucked.

"What?" The younger man looked completely confused, but leaned into Viggo's hand as he caressed his cheek.

"Seems Johnny thought you were in distress." Viggo kissed the tip of Orli's nose.

"Why would he think that?" The younger man smiled and closed his eyes as Viggo kissed each lid.

"I told you, you were a bit loud."

"Oh!" Orlando blushed when he finally understood what Viggo meant.

"And he thought you needed saving."

"Oh, god...." Orlando turned and buried his face in Viggo's chest.

"Got quite an eye-full of his baby brother when he burst in ready to rescue you."

"...ohhgawd...." His voice was muffled.

Viggo chuckled and his chest shook slightly.

"...itssnott funnee...." The younger man did not sound amused.

"Actually." Viggo reached down to turn Orlando's face so he could see him. "It really was 'cause he was the one that needed rescuing." The brown eyes looked completely bewildered. "The doorframe attacked him." Viggo chuckled again. "He turned around to leave so fast he bounced off it." He laughed. "He hit it hard."

A few moments past, then Orli snickered. "He didn't?" Viggo nodded. "Oh, my...." The younger man giggled helplessly and Viggo joined him.

Their amusement subsided slowly and they lay together, simply enjoying the intimacy of the moment. Viggo was amazed by the young man in his arms. So gorgeous, so innocent, so smart, so naive... a wonderful, heady blend that made Orlando Bloom unique and all the more precious to him.

Viggo shift slightly and kissed Orlando and he felt the young man melt in his arms. Orli moaned as Viggo rolled them so the older man rested on top. When he looked into the young Brit's eyes, his pupils were widely dilated with arousal.

He used his tongue and lips to trace a long, torturous route from the sweet mouth down the lithe body. Shudders and shivers accompanied the touches and teases and Orlando moaned and whimpered as he writhed. Viggo lavished a lot of attention to the young man's nipples; licking, sucking even lightly biting at them. The sounds Orlando made sent the blood rushing to Viggo's groin. He saw Orlando's fingers dig into the sheets and grip them tightly.

He trailed his tongue to Orlando's navel. He plunged the tip in making the young man yelp and shift under him. He tickled the edges and lightly pushed in as Orlando's hips arched up in response. Finally, he moved lower. Viggo hummed as he breathed in the soft musk that uniquely Orlando's as he encouraged him to spread his legs. He kissed, licked and nipped his way through the sparse public hair to the base of the young man's engorged cock. He licked the length of Orli's penis and swirled his tongue around the crown. He tasted Orlando's earlier climax and moved down to nuzzle the boy's full sac.

Viggo pushed Orli's knees up and he moved his lips behind the sac and Orlando moaned loudly, shivers rippling through. Viggo paused, and took a deep breath to regain some control. Just listening to Orlando was nearly enough to push him over the edge. The boy's toes were curled into the mattress.

When he licked the tiny bud, Orlando twisted wildly and Viggo had to hold on tightly to his legs. He pressed his tongue against that taut entrance and Orli shuddered and climaxed again. Viggo kept up the stimulation until the last of the spasms had past. As the young man went nearly boneless, Viggo pressed the tip of his tongue in. The boy moaned but his body remained relaxed. Viggo smiled.

He gathered Orlando's ejaculate on his fingers and he used it to slide his fingers in. The boy shifted but was not in pain. Viggo was relieved. He scissored his fingers to slowly stretch the ring of muscle. Orli groaned when the fingers were withdrawn, but then moaned with pleasure when Viggo slipped in three fingers coated with cum. Again, he spent some time moving his fingers in and out and stretching the muscles slowly.

At last, when he could wait no longer he withdrew his fingers and shifted to kneel between Orli's bent legs. He spread his pre-cum along his length as he savored the sight. The boy was covered with sweat, his hair wild, his skin flushed and his breathing ragged. He had never looked more gorgeous. Viggo slathered some of Orlando's ejaculate along his cock to make certain he was well lubricated.

Carefully, Viggo leaned forward and kissed Orli hard. He plunged his tongue into the sweet depths of the boy's mouth, in much the same way he planned to do the same with another part of the boy's body. He broke the kiss and looked into the hazy dark eyes. "Are you ready?" Orlando blinked at him and then nodded. "Good."

Viggo positioned the head of his cock at that small entrance as he moved in for another kiss. When their lips met, he pressed forward with his hips. Just as he plunged his tongue in, he felt something give and the crown of his cock slipped past the ring of muscle. Orli moaned as his body was plundered. A steady pressure pushed his cock into that tight passage and his tongue twined and danced with Orlando's.

His cock was halfway in when he paused. He broke the kiss and looked at the beautiful young man who was his. Orlando swallowed and whimpered beneath him. "What?"

"Mah... muh... more.... puhpuhleez...." He felt the boy's hands settle on his hips, to encourage him.

"I love you, Orli," he whispered as he applied a steady pressure and his cock slid all the way in. His balls rested against the boy's tight ass and he had never felt so complete. It had never felt so right.

They kissed again as he moved his hips. His cock withdrew slowly almost all the way out before he thrust it back in. Slow at first, then faster their bodies moved. They found a rhythm that gave him deepest penetration and the best friction as he moved. The rhythm changed as the tempo increased, their need outweighing conscious thought and control.

It seemed they would go on forever. He never wanted it to end. Orlando had never felt like this before. His body responded to Viggo's cock, his hands, his mouth. Everything he had ever felt in the past paled in comparison. This was what love was. It was not just bodies moving together. It was minds and souls and spirits joining in that process. He could feel Viggo's love surrounding him.

When they toppled over the edge, it was together. It was too soon but it could not be stopped. He thought he screamed as pleasure so intense it bordered on pain rocketed through him. He heard Viggo's voice join his as his cock jumped and spasmed in his release. Deep inside him, he could feel Viggo's spasms and he knew Viggo was climaxing, filling his body.

His body sagged, drained of energy. He felt like he was adrift. But he knew he was not alone. Viggo was there with him. Viggo would always be there with him.

*

He did not know how much time had passed before he had gathered enough wit to know he needed to get up. His softened cock had already slipped from the exquisitely tight passage, but if they stayed like this all night it would be an uncomfortable morning.

Viggo groaned as he pushed himself off the smaller body beneath him. Orlando was asleep; exhausted by their lovemaking. Viggo smiled at the beauty of his lover. He gave the younger man a quick kiss on the forehead before he got up. He made use of the water closet then wiped himself clean.

He used a damp cloth to clean Orlando who did not wake. Then he dropped the mosquito netting around the bed, turned out the lamp on the nightstand and settled in the bed with Orlando. The evening breeze was refreshingly cool as he pulled up the top sheet and light blanket. The younger man shifted in his sleep and curled around Viggo.

*

Used to waking early so he might get an early start on his day at the museum, Orlando woke abruptly, uncertain of his surroundings. It was predawn and the room dimly lit, but he smiled when he realized he was in bed with Viggo. Best of all there was no rush to be anywhere; the board had given him six weeks paid leave as a bonus for his work at getting the museum back in order. They had already offered him the position as permanent curator. He had discussed it with Viggo and when he returned to work in a month and a half he would accept with the stipulations that he would be free to join an expedition at least once a year, if the opportunity presented itself.

For the moment, he relished watching Viggo sleep. When he shifted for a slightly better view, Orlando winced a bit, muscles he had never used before protested the vigorous exercise. But he could not stop the smile at the thought of what they had done the night before. It had been wonderful, better than he could have imagined. And they could do it again any time they wanted. They had a whole lifetime of love ahead of them.

He dozed a bit but woke again when his stomach rumbled. Orlando wanted to ignore it but it rumbled again very loudly. Viggo murmured in his sleep and turned to his side and tugged the covers up.

With care, Orlando slipped from the bed and used the facilities. Afterward, he dressed simply in linen trousers, loose shirt and sandals and headed for the diningroom and breakfast. He smiled and nodded his thanks to people who had missed the opportunity to offer congratulations at the party last evening. The British Embassy located in Fort Brydon had hosted the grand gala that celebrated the reopening of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. It had been an evening of many celebrations and he noted more than one person walking very carefully while in search of hot strong coffee.

The breakfast buffet offered many choices ranging from the bean cakes with pickles and slices of cheese preferred by the Egyptians to rashers of bacon with tomato and mushroom pies for the Brits as well as home fried potatoes, eggs, sausage and toast which was a more typical American fare. Orlando filled a plate with variety of tidbits. His food tastes influenced as much by an Egyptian mother as by being brought up in with an English cook.

The waiters knew him well and had large pot of tea at his table by the time his plate was filled. He fixed a cup of strong tea, laced with honey and lemon only to have it snatched from his hand. "Hey!"

"Oh!" Johnny waved a hand at him as he gulped down the tea. "Orli, Luv, you're a life saver. Nothin' like a strong pot of tea with lots of honey and a bit of lemon to take the zing out of a hangover." He immediately poured himself another cup as the waiter brought over a clean cup.

Orlando paused as he was about to pour cup for himself and stared at his brother. "What happened to you?"

"What?" Johnny had closed his eyes as he drank the second cup more slowly. "Oh, this." He motioned to his nose which was slightly swollen and Orlando noted there some bruising under Johnny's eyes. "It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing to me." Orli filled his cup. "Looks like it might be broken." He spooned honey into it and squeezed a lemon quarter as well.

"Just a slight altercation with a gentleman not treating a lady properly," Johnny explained. He reached over and helped himself to some crispy bacon from Orli's plate.

"Really?" Orlando nodded his thanks to the waiter who exchanged the empty pot for a fresh one. He smiled when he spotted Viggo heading for the breakfast buffet. The American was unshaven, dressed casually with hair looking like he had run his fingers through it rather than a brush. Orli thought he looked good enough to eat.

"Really." Johnny munched on the bacon and spread jam on the toast he had nicked from his brother's plate.

"I didn't realize that doorjams were in the habit of being less than gentlemanly to ladies." He grinned as he sipped his tea. "Guess they're getting pretty feisty jumping in front of people. Especially people poking their noses in places they shouldn't and trying to leave rooms in a hurry and all." He brushed his thumb over the plain gold band on his finger.

"Hey! It was an accident--"

Viggo shook his head as he filled his plate and listened to the banter between the two brothers. His life would never be dull with Orlando around and with Johnny hanging about who knew what could happen.

~el fin~

Feedback keeps the author happy kiba@pfyre.co.uk or leave a comment here!  
*********************************************************

Stephen Sommers (screenplay)

Cast  
Brendan Fraser .... Richard 'Rick' O'Connell // Viggo Mortensen  
Rachel Weisz .... Evelyn Carnahan // Orlando Bloom  
John Hannah .... Jonathan Carnahan // Johnny Depp  
Arnold Vosloo .... High Priest Imhotep  
Kevin J. O'Connor .... Beni Gabor // Andy Serkis  
Oded Fehr .... Ardeth Bay  
Jonathan Hyde .... Dr. Allen Chamberlain // Sean Astin  
Erick Avari .... Dr. Terrence Bey // Sean Bean  
Bernard Fox .... Captain Winston Havlock // Bernard Hill  
Stephen Dunham .... Mr. Henderson // Dominic Monaghan  
Corey Johnson .... Mr. Daniels // Elijah Wood  
Tuc Watkins .... Mr. Burns // Billy Boyd  
Omid Djalili .... Warden Gad Hassan // Sala Baker  
Aharon Ipal .... Pharaoh Seti I  
Patricia Velasquez .... Anck Su Namun

ready for beta: 4:08pm Thu 17-June'04  
first draft completed: 8:23pm Wed 16-June'04  
created: 12:16 Sun 30-May'04

The End

**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is purely intentional, HOWEVER, we all know this never happened. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a work intended purely for the enjoyment of fans of Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen. No monies made.


End file.
